Cardinal Parolin opens 75th National Liturgical Week in Naples

The Vatican’s Secretary of State has opened the 75th National Liturgical Week, with the Italian city of Naples providing the stage for the Church’s most important gathering of the Jubilee Year in relation to the Liturgy and its role.

The National Liturgical Week provides the Church with a focused period to reflect on the importance of the Liturgy. Now in its 75th year, the annual event serves as a forum where bishops, priests, theologians, religious and lay workers come together to study prayer and ritual and how it shapes Catholic daily life.

At the event's opening on 25 August, Cardinal Pietro Parolin declared that the liturgy must become “a place of closeness, hope, freedom, hospitality and refuge”, adding that it must serve as a place “of sure hope” even amid conflict and suffering.

Cardinal Parolin delivered his address at Naples Cathedral, with his reflections combining the Jubilee's central thematic pillars of faith, hope and charity, while drawing attention to how the Liturgy embodies those pillars in concrete human experience.

The Secretary of State’s message carried a pastoral urgency that prayer must never be disconnected from life. He urged that worship needs to transcend mere ritual artistry to become “an inner encounter with God” through the Eucharist, the Word, the minister and the assembly, so that contemplation kindles a communal response of mercy and engagement.

In his address, he also discussed the unfolding tragedy in Gaza, saying: “[We are] appalled by what is happening in Gaza, despite the condemnation of the whole world."

Parolin said that what is happening there "makes no sense”, stating that the crisis grows “increasingly complicated and, from a humanitarian perspective, increasingly precarious”.

The cardinal combined the issue of the ongoing Gaza conflict with his central theme, the Liturgy, explaining: “The essence of the Liturgy is peace, the gift of the Risen Christ. It is not just a symbol but authentic peace, true communion."

He went on to say that this peace is the fruit of the celebration and “is already experienced within it, spreading out to the whole world – and we are its first bearers".

This if the liturgy is celebrated with inner truth, the cardinal concluded, we become witnesses of hope and peace.

“It would be beautiful,” he added, “if at the entrance of every church one could read: ‘Be nourished by hope, you who enter here.’ For hope is Christ Himself, alive and active in the liturgy.”

‍Photo: Italian cardinal and the Vatican's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin officiates during a holy Mass at St Peter's Square a day after the funeral of Pope Francis, Vatican, 27 April 2025. (Photo by DAMIEN MEYER/AFP via Getty Images.)

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