MORE RESTRAINT is being urged by the Vatican on the faithful when offering the sign of peace during Mass.



The Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) has instructed bishops to draw up new guidelines so that the gesture can be performed with more sobriety and less “excess”. It advised bishops to find alternatives to “familiar” or “profane” greetings.



In a circular letter, the CDW said it would offer practical guidelines better explaining the exchange of peace “and to moderate excessive expressions that give rise to disarray in the liturgical assembly before Communion”.



It said priests should avoid leaving the altar to offer parishioners the sign of peace, and criticised those who moved from their place or offered congratulations or condolences during the sign of the peace at nuptial or requiem Masses.



“If the faithful do not understand and do not show, in their ritual gestures, the true significance of the rite of peace, they are weakened in the Christian concept of peace, and their fruitful participation in the Eucharist is negatively affected,” it said.



The letter was signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, and its secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche. Dated 8 June, it had been approved and confirmed the previous day by Pope Francis.



The letter, details of which emerged last week, also said that a suggestion discussed at the 2005 synod of bishops on the Eucharist to move the sign of peace to earlier in the Mass would not be pursued.



Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called for restraint in his apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, which drew together themes expressed at the 2005 synod, the CDW letter noted.



“During the synod of bishops there was discussion about the appropriateness of greater restraint in this gesture, which can be exaggerated and cause a certain distraction in the assembly just before the reception of Communion,” the letter said, quoting Pope Benedict.



Fr Anthony Ruff, professor of liturgy at St. John’s University School of Theology-Seminary is in Collegeville, Minnesota, said that in some parishes a “spontaneous free-for-all” had evolved, adding: “I suspect such local practices will continue and the Vatican letter won’t change much, since most people don’t find it irreverent to reach out in friendliness.”



But he noted that the document suggests that bishops might adjust the rite in the future, explaining: “This could mean, for example, reverting to a prescribed text that is passed from priest to deacon or acolyte to people in order down each pew.”



Nathan Chase, a liturgist at St John’s, said in some parts of the world the sign of peace is much more involved, saying by way of example: “In the Democratic Republic of Congo the congregation wash their hands together in a bowl of water, which was the tribal sign of reconciliation that has snuck in under the radar. It is likely that some rituals in Africa and Asia have made traditionalists in Rome uncomfortable.”



(See Letters, page 17; read the CDW’s circular letter at www.thetablet.co.uk/texts)