Vatican City, May 9, 2011 / 23:04 pm
Pope Benedict XVI told participants at an international liturgical conference that tradition and progress are not opposites, but complimentary parts of Catholic life and worship.
“Not infrequently are tradition and progress in awkward opposition,” he told attendees of the Ninth International Congress on the Liturgy, sponsored by the Pontifical Liturgical Institute.
“Actually, though, the two concepts are interwoven: tradition is a living reality that, in itself, includes the principle of development, of progress.”
Likewise, he noted in his May 6 address, authentic progress in the area of liturgy must build upon the tradition of the Church rather than discarding it. “The liturgy,” he stated, “lives (in) a proper and constant relation between sound 'tradition' and legitimate 'progression.'”