Vatican official warns new bishops against 'extremes' in adapting the liturgy

Bishop Aurelio García Macías, one of the two undersecretaries of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, addressed 49 newly appointed bishops on September 4 and urged them to avoid "extremes" in liturgical inculturation. He told them not to fear cultures but not to idealize them either, and said diversity should not come at the cost of communion among the faithful.

García Macías said it is essential not to stifle the authentic creativity of the Holy Spirit, while not confusing that creativity with arbitrariness. He warned against unnecessary innovation, syncretism and folklore in the liturgy. Syncretism, he said, is a "particularly sensitive issue in areas where traditional religions remain culturally very much alive."

He said the liturgy must become neither a "museum of unchanging forms" nor a "permanent laboratory" of experimentation.