By Giuseppe Nardi
(Rome) Monsignor Mario Delpini, the previous Vicar General of the Archdiocese, is to become the new Archbishop of Milan. The northern Italian Archdiocese, which is not the Roman Rite, but the Ambrosian Rite, is one of the most important dioceses in the world. The Archbishop is still Angelo Cardinal Scola, the opponent of Pope Francis in the conclave of 2013, who is in good health but has also completed his 75th year of life in November 2016, and therefore presented the canonical request for resignation to the Pope.
“Group elevation” to make adolescents “actors”
The Auxiliary Bishop Delpini engaged in liturgical relativism for World Youth Day 2013 through liturgical relativism. Delpini celebrated a Holy Mass with the young people of the Archdiocese before their departure for Rio de Janeiro.
Katholisches.info reported at the time:
At the end of the high feast, the episcopal ‘superintendant’ of the celebration celebrated not only with his priestly concelebrants, but youths, specially called to the altar, to elevate the chalices with the Precious Blood of Christ and the Hosts with the Body of Christ. Apart from the fact that normally only one chalice and a ciborium with the consecrated hosts are raised, even if several are used: the group elevation was not carried out by priests or deacons, who stood idly in the background, but by young laymen, girls and fellows who had previously been fished out of the church nave by the coordinating priest.The embarrassed facial expressions of the young people in the pictures are quite telling. You clearly are in the wrong place. There is no cross on the altar. It was forgotten in the zeal of a conspicuous priesthood of all believers. The Lord is hanging on the side wall in the background. The photo was even published on the website of the church newspaper IncrociNews of the Archdiocese of Milan, among the official reports on World Youth Day 2013 .The example shows that they are priests who behave like elephants in the liturgical china shop.
The Archbishop’s Liturgy Commissioner tried to defend the Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General against the criticism, which did not exactly improve the situation. Msgr Pierantonio Tremolada wrote:
“I am absolutely convinced that the gesture was intended to give the young people the feeling of being actors during the week of World Youth Day” (as the Pope said yesterday). Moreover, we are not sure that it was decided by S. Ex. Mons. Delpini. The leaders of the celebration do not always decide the liturgical gestures, sometimes at the last moment they execute them at the instruction of others.”
The liturgy commissioner did not go into the gesture. On the contrary, the reference to the pope made it clear that he did not bother.
By tomorrow’s appointment, Pope Francis will have appointed the metropolitans of the three largest, most prestigious and wealthy archbishoprics in the world within three years with Cologne, Chicago and Milan.