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My husband caught that! We were thrilled with how well the East was represented.

What ticked me off was CNN's female commentator, who couldn't keep her mouth shut even during the prayers. The few times she was quiet you could hear her whispering in the background. She even took the time of the Eucharist to get on a soapbox about how the Catholic Church should get with the times and stay out of the faithful's bedrooms.

Tammy

Stefan-Ivan states: "I likewise thought the East was well represented in this liturgy."
What? A few words in Greek equals well represented? Come on already!

Did the homily have 'eastern' elements too? At least he quotes "the Fathers".

http://www.vatican.va/gpII/bulletin/B0238-XX.01.pdf

The presence of an Eastern Patriarch concelebrating the Mass is more just than a few words in Greek! :p

Tammy

They celebrated it at Saint Peter's! I'm sure they had to be 'in place' and through metal detectors and protocal experts hours before the official kick off time....

But once again, Archbishop Foley kept referring to
the Eastern Catholic hierarchs as representatives from the Orthodox Churches (EWTN comentary)???

Ung-Certez

Must be confused himself. He also said "Pope Gregory XVI at the start of the Mass.

I guess he's not use to seeing Eastern Catholic bishops wearing klobuks and veils (Met. Stefan)!

Ung-Certez

Although beautiful in their way, I am glad that the old monarchical aspects of the Coronation of the Pope (Tiara and Sedia) are not used now.

Are the crowns of Byzantine bishops then "monarchical"?

I think that the Byzantine Church was surprisingly well represented.

First, remember that this was the Roman/Latin-rite Mass, and that tacking on a Byzantine-rite Greek Gospel reading into the Latin Mass would technically have been a "liturgical abuse" had it been done at your local parish (of course, the Pope can do things however he sees fit).

The pope didn't have to have the Byzantine section of the Mass, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was basically unprecedented.


I have two questions of my own:

1. I noticed the Deacon was an Italian, Luigi somethingoranother. I presume he was from the Italo-Greek Church?

2. I noticed a number of Eastern-looking gentlemen sitting next to Archbishop Williams of Canterbury. I presume these are Orthodox Hierarchs? If so, did anyone catch who they were?

Marc

Not content with re-naming the Holy Father "Gregory XVI", EWTN also described the bishop immediately preceding His Holiness as the procession left the basilica for the open-air altar as "Cardinal Ratzinger, Secretary of State".

As to the Eastern Catholic hierarchs and Archbishop Foley's associates calling them representatives of the Orthodox Churches, it seems logical enough - after all, the media have been calling the present Pope Benedict XVI "orthodox" for the past week.

By the way, the proclamation of the Gospel in Greek by a Greek deacon during a Papal Mass is an ancient and venerable custom. In this instance, I would assume that the Greek deacon, who is a monk of Grottaferratta, originally hails from one of the two Italo-Greek eparchies of southern Italy.

Incognitus

Interestingly, the Holy Father's precious mitre is one he's had. Those sharp eyes may have seen his cardinalatial coat of arms.

Indeed! I do wonder when we are going to 'get it'. The press has been calling Benedict "orthodox" and we have taken it is a plus, he is traditional and faithful. When they call us "orthodox" we think it is an insult. We have to get over that.

Just in defense of EWTN, it is a safe assumption that the commentary wasn't being done by any staff of EWTN, but rather they were taking the feed from someone else, albeit an ecclesiastical source, not a secular one like CNN.

Archbishop Foley for years has been doing those commentaries for things such as midnight Mass from St. Peter's Basilica which is then used by the likes of NBC, etc.