‘Desiderio Desideravi’

“Let us abandon our polemics to listen together to what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Let us safeguard our communion. Let us continue to be astonished at the beauty of the Liturgy”, Pope Francis writes in his new Apostolic Letter, Desiderio Desideravi on “The Liturgical Formation of the People of God”. Addressed to bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and to the lay faithful, it was published on Wednesday, 29 June, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and was inspired by Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke: “Desiderio desideravi hoc Pascha manducare vobiscum, antequam patia” (“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”(Lk 21:15).

In a press statement announcing the publication, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments explained that the new Letter re-elaborates the results of its February 2019 plenary assembly and continues on from what the Pope had already written to Bishops following the publication of the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes. The Holy Father’s Letter shares “some reflections on the liturgy, a dimension fundamental for the life of the Church”, in 65 paragraphs. It concludes with a passage from Saint Francis of Assisi’s A Letter to the Entire Order (II:26-29).

For the Pope’s Apostolic Letter: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/20220629-lettera-ap-desiderio-desideravi.html