Nothing will come of this, of course, but it is nice to hear it from Pope Francis. Alas, Benedict XVI and John Paul II said similar things about music and liberals ignored them, too.

Via Vatican Radio [which is going to cease to be a true “radio” it seems]:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday received the participants in a major international conference on sacred music, a half-century after the promulgation of the Conciliar document, Musicam sacram on music in the sacred liturgy. Over 400 people taking part in the gathering organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for Culture around the theme: Music and the Church: cult and culture fifty years after Musicam sacram, met in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace to hear the Holy Father. “Certainly,” said Pope Francis, “the encounter with modernity and the introduction of [vernacular] tongues into the Liturgy stirred up many problems: of musical languages, forms and genres.” [Pope Francis said that?] The Holy father went on to say, “Sometimes a certain mediocrity, superficiality and banality have prevailed, to the detriment of the beauty and intensity of liturgical celebrations.” [!] The Pope encouraged the various actors in the field of liturgical music – from composers, conductors, musicians and choristers, to liturgical animators [? I don’t think they mean MCs, do you?] – to do their best to contribute to the renewal of sacred music and liturgical chant, especially as far as the quality of sacred music is concerned. “To facilitate this process,” Pope Francis said, “we need to promote proper musical education, especially for those who are preparing to become priests – in dialogue with the musical trends of our time, with the demands of the different cultural areas, and with an ecumenical attitude.”

Well, I’ll be!

Let’s now watch the hypocrisy of the libs who hang on every word that Pope Francis utters about the environment as if it is a combination of the Gospels, the oracle of Delphi, and an apparition of Vishnu. They generally insist on rigid obedience to his each and every oracular utterance. In this matter, however, they will do nothing…. unless…

Hmmmm… for libs up is really down, black is white, adultery and cohabitation are normalized, women can be ordained and 2+2=5.

Hence, another possibility is that libs will insist that when the Pope says “mediocre, superficial and banal” he really doesn’t mean Joncas, Haas and Haugen. In fact, that’s the music he wants. The “mediocre, superficial and banal”, they will say, is Gregorian chant, Palestrina and the pipe organ. After all THEY HATE VATICAN II!

The moderation queue is ON.