Pope Leo XIV encourages Priests gathered in Oregon to ensure reverent liturgical worship

 

The Benedictine Abbey of Mount Angel in Oregon, United States 

Pope

• Pope Leo XIV
• liturgy
• prayer
• Sacraments
• United States

Pope: Sunday Mass must form Catholics through reverent worship

Pope Leo XIV encourages priests to respect the liturgical norms for the celebration of Mass, in a message to participants in a Vatican-organized meeting in the US state of Oregon.

By Devin Watkins

As Cardinals, Bishops, and lay people gathered in the US state of Oregon, Pope Leo XIV sent a message on Friday to emphasize the importance of properly celebrating the liturgical rites.

The event takes place on August 14-19 at the Benedictine Abbey of Mount Angel and was organized by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. 

In his message to Cardinal Authur Roche, the Dicastery’s Prefect, Pope Leo expressed his support for the initiative, aimed at discussing the “important topic of the liturgical formation of God’s people.”

The meeting came in response to Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, which explored the beauty of the liturgy’s theological and spiritual depth. 

It brought together Catholics of diverse backgrounds to reflect together with the goal of “defining shared, concrete, and practical proposals,” according to a press release from the Dicastery. 

The choice of a monastic community signifies “the intention to engage in dialogue within a prayerful setting,” focusing on spiritual discernment more than on scholarly exploration, noted the press release.

Pope Leo XIV said Desiderio Desideravi called for ongoing formation of the clergy and lay people to revitalize the Church’s liturgical life.

Rather than forming only a specialized group of liturgical experts, liturgical formation should become an “inner disposition of all the People of God,” said Pope Leo, quoting the Apostolic Letter.

Pope Leo noted that the Sunday Eucharist offers the most frequent and practical opportunity for liturgical formation.

“These celebrations are anchored in the annual rhythm of the liturgical year, with the Paschal Mystery at its center,” he said. “For this reason, it is essential that they also be profoundly formative, promoting an ever deeper understanding of the ars celebrandi, expressed not only by the celebrant of the liturgy, but also by the entire assembly.”

Through the Sunday Mass, he added, Catholics will be formed “both for the liturgy and by the liturgy.”

Pope Leo recalled his recent catechesis series at the Wednesday General Audiences on the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

“In order to promote the dignified celebration of the sacred mysteries, we must emphasize the need for fidelity to the approved texts and instructions,” he said.

The Pope said his catechesis urged all those called to prepare the celebration of the divine mysteries, especially priests, to show respect for the rites promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI and Pope St. John Paul II.

“It is vital that this respect springs from an inner attitude of openness and trust in God, manifesting humility before His greatness and sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion,” he said.

In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV entrusted the liturgical meeting in Oregon to Mary, Seat of Wisdom, and prayed for their spiritual discernment on the Church’s sacred liturgy.pope Leo 

Cardinal Roche affirms Pope Leo XIV will not change Traditionis Custodes

 

Vatican liturgy chief says Pope Leo will not overturn Latin Mass restrictions

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is pictured in a 2022 file photo. (OSV News/Reuters/Marko Djurica)

by Justin McLellan

Vatican City — July 30, 2026

The head of the Vatican's liturgy office said that Pope Leo XIV will not be peeling back restrictions on celebrating the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass put in place by his predecessor in 2021, dashing the hopes of traditionalist Catholics seeking a reversal of the controversial decree. 

"Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes," said Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, referencing Pope Francis' 2021 restrictions on the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass in an interview with the English Catholic magazine The Tablet published July 29. 

Traditionis Custodes created new norms for the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, which follows the 1962 Roman Missal, declaring that priests must request permission from their bishop to celebrate that form of the Mass and that communities attached to the liturgy must celebrate it at designated locations apart from ordinary parish churches. 

Publicly, Leo has not spoken at length on the issue, but Roche told The Tablet that the pope is "not going back to Summorum Pontificum" — the 2007 decree issued by Pope Benedict XIV that allowed priests to celebrate Mass from the 1962 missal. 

Some Catholics have turned greater access to the old form of the Mass into a rallying cry for a church that rejects modernity, turning the liturgy into a flashpoint between more traditionally minded Catholics and those advancing a Vatican II vision of the church marked by greater participation of the laity.

Yet in the interview, Roche, who was appointed by Pope Francis to his current post in 2021 less than two months before Traditionis Custodes was published, appeared to state that the current conditions in no way marginalize Catholics with an affinity for the pre-Vatican II Mass. 

"It’s interesting. When I meet with groups who want the antecedent liturgy, and I say: 'Well, the Holy Father has given you that, so what’s the problem?' they can’t answer," the cardinal said. "But then they go away and say, 'We’re still being persecuted.' In what way persecuted? Why is the band still playing a tune that is discordant with the life of the Church?"

The Vatican last year granted two U.S. dioceses temporary dispensations from enforcing Traditionis Custodes, and Leo allowed U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke to celebrate a pre-Vatican II Latin Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, spurring hope among traditionalist Catholics that the American pope would soften restrictions on the old form of the liturgy. 

Yet under Leo's leadership, the Vatican has not changed its official position that the reformed liturgy remains the sole expression of the Latin-rite Mass. 

In January, a text authored by Roche, who at 76 is past the retirement age for cardinals, was distributed at a meeting of the world's cardinals which said that Francis "pointed the way to unity" with the restrictions he imposed on the old form of the liturgy and wrote that "there ought to be only one rite for celebrating the Mass."

Speaking to The Tablet, Roche said that Vatican II expressed the need for the church be more missionary in its focus, "and that to prepare people to be missionary, the very central core of the life of the Church, which is the Eucharist, has to nourish people in a different way."

He said the Mass today offers Catholics more spiritual nourishment than the 1962 Mass.

"The abundant diet of scripture that is now given through the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments is something that wasn’t available to use before, but it is now," he said. Whereas the old form of Mass portrayed the priest as acting on behalf of the congregation, the cardinal said that "in fact, when the Mass is being celebrated, because the baptized people are a priestly people, they too are celebrating with the priest," as emphasized in the reformed liturgy. 

Rome has spoken: A layperson CANNOT deliver the homily

 

A priest delivering his homily during Mass 

Vatican

• homily
• Germany
• mass
• Vatican
• dicastery
• liturgy
• Sacraments

Vatican Dicastery maintains that a layperson cannot deliver the homily

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments responds to the request made by the German Bishops, denying their petition for a lay person to preach the homily during Mass, even in exceptional cases, stating that the proclamation of the Word in the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally.

Vatican News 

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has issued a clarifying text regarding who is permitted to deliver homilies.

In a letter dated June 17, 2026, addressed to the President of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, the Dicastery communicated that it is not possible to grant the indult requested on March 30, 2026. An indult is "a special (and often temporary) favor granted to a physical or moral person by the Apostolic See (or the local ordinary) which confers faculties contrary to or beyond the prescriptions of the law."

The German Bishops had requested "to permit, in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist."

While the Dicastery expressed appreciation for the pastoral concerns that inspired the request, it reaffirmed that the current discipline cannot be dispensed from by means of an indult, since the reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy.

In the text, the Dicastery reiterated that the homily, which forms an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word, is intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel and constitutes an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

It added that the proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that binds together Word and Sacrament in the Eucharistic celebration.

The letter also emphasized the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers so that the homily may fully express its pastoral and spiritual effectiveness.

Finally, the Dicastery recalled that the Church's current discipline already provides for numerous forms of proclaiming the Word and preaching that may be entrusted to lay members of the faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist, in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of these different forms of proclaiming the Gospel.

Pope Leo XIV inscribes St. John Henry Newman in the General Roman Calendar for October 9th

 

The banner of St. John Henry Newman on the day of his proclamation as Doctor of the Church, November 1, 2025 (ANSA)

Vatican

• dicastery
• saints and blessed
• Vatican

St. John Henry Newman inscribed in the General Roman Calendar with memorial on October 9

The Dicastery of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments releases a decree on Tuesday, February 3, in which Pope Leo XIV inscribes the Doctor of the Church, St. John Henry Newman, in the General Roman Calendar.

By Isabella H. de Carvalho

Pope Leo XIV inscribes St. John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church, in the General Roman Calendar, with his optional memorial being on October 9, the Dicastery of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments announced in a decree released on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.

The 19th century English Anglican priest, who converted to Catholicism and then became a cardinal, was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019. On November 1, 2025, Pope Leo proclaimed him co-Patron of the Church’s educational mission, along with St. Thomas Aquinas, and a Doctor of the Church.  

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01/11/2025

Pope Leo XIV: Newman, Doctor of the Church - A light for the new generations

Considering this recent recognition, “conferred upon a saintly pastor of such outstanding significance for the entire community of the faithful,” the decree states that his optional memorial can now be celebrated on October 9 - the day in which, in 1845, he converted to Catholicism.

The decree explains that the new memorial will in fact “be inserted into all Calendars and Liturgical Books for the celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, adopting the liturgical texts attached to the present decree, which are to be translated, approved, and—after confirmation by this Dicastery—published by the Conferences of Bishops.”

The Dicastery’s decree was released on Tuesday, February 3, but was signed by the Prefect of the body, Cardinal Arthur Roche, and the Secretary, Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, on November 9, 2025, Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

A radiant light for the Church

 “The kindly light of God’s grace, which came into this world to enlighten the gentiles, led John Henry Newman to find peace in the Catholic Church and gave him such strength that he was able to say ‘God has created me to do Him some definite service … I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught’,” the decree highlights.

The text emphasizes how, throughout his long life, Cardinal Newman continuously and tirelessly served the poor, preached and taught and engaged in “intellectual enquiry”. The decree defines him as “a radiant light for the Church on pilgrimage through history.”

 “His lively mind has left us enduring monuments of great importance in the fields of theology and ecclesiology, as well as poetic and devotional compositions,” the decree continues.

“His constant search to be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of the truth has become an example for every disciple of the Risen One.”

Feast Days established for new Saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati

 

Vatican establishes feast days of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati

 

By Victoria Cardiel

Vatican City, Sep 9, 2025 / 07:00 am

The Catholic Church will commemorate the liturgical memorial of St. Carlo Acutis on Oct. 12 and of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati on July 4. The two young men were canonized Sept. 7 by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

In the case of St. Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager who died in 2006 and was beatified in Assisi in October 2020, his feast day was set for Oct. 12, coinciding with the anniversary of his death from fulminant leukemia at the age of 15.

The decree of the then-Congregation — now Dicastery — for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, promulgated after the beatification, set the date for the calendars of the dioceses of Assisi and Milan in addition to authorizing its celebration in other communities that requested it.

Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young man from Turin who died in 1925 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990, will be commemorated every year on July 4, also coinciding with the day of his death. His memorial Mass is celebrated especially in Italy and in youth communities that consider him a patron and spiritual role model.

Both saints, commemorated on the date they passed into eternal life, have become role models of faith and commitment for young people. Acutis is known for his witness of faith in the digital world and his love for the Eucharist, and Frassati was described by St. John Paul II as a “man of the Beatitudes.” Their intense spiritual life and commitment to charitable works continue to inspire new generations of Catholics around the world.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA