Roman Appointments

This week's Catholic Herald reprints Damian Thompson's piece on the forthcoming curial reforms in Rome. Interestingly, it includes some snippets that were edited out of the version published in the Telegraph.

This for instance:

One prelate who ought to be worried is .... Archbishop Piero Marini, papal master of ceremonies since 1987, whom conservatives blame for what they regard as the vulgar, multi-ethnic "showbiz liturgies" of John Paul II's foreign travels. Sandro Magister, the well-connected religious correspondent of Espresso magazine, predicted last June that Marini was on his way out. "As cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger never kept secret his criticisms of some aspects of Marini's preferred approach," he wrote.

So why is the master of ceremonies still here, adjusting the microphone, fiddling with his sleeves and holding the Pope's mitre?
"Believe me, the Holy Father is trying to move him," says a former colleague of the Pope. "Marini has been offered an Italian diocese, but he turned it down because it was too remote and didn't come with a red hat. Basically, he doesn't want to go unless he is made a cardinal, and the Pope isn't going to do that."
But one way or another it seems, time is running out for Marini, choreographer of the imperial papacy.

A further sign that change may be iminent in the Office of Papal Liturgical Celebrations came today with news of the appointment of no less than three new Masters of Ceremonies (assistants to the Master of Ceremonies). The new appointments are Monsignori Pier Enrico Stefanetti, Stefano Sanchirico of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Diego Giovanni Ravelli of the Office of the Papal Almoner.

Details are sparse but given Pope Benedict's well documented concern for the sacred liturgy it is a safe bet that they were carefully chosen.