The Pope, the Poor, “Pageantry and Prominence”, by John M. Grondelski

By John M. Grondelski, Crisis Magazine, March 11, 2025

John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is a former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. All views expressed herein are his own.

When the pope warns against “pageantry and prominence,” I want to know how he will also protect against tacky and tawdry because the latter has often been the practical upshot of post-Vatican II liturgical choices.

Pope Francis sent a message February 28 to participants in a course at Rome’s Anselmianum for bishops’ masters of ceremony. The message was one of those usual ones dispatched for an event of which the Holy See somehow wants to take note, either because it likes the idea or somebody involved had a friend in the Curia.

According to the message, the nominal reason for the course is to respond to Francis’ “invitation formulated in the Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, continuing to study the liturgy, not only from a theological perspective, but also in the area of celebratory praxis.” …

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