Pope Leo XIV has once again urged clergy and anyone involved with the liturgy to adhere to the Church’s “approved texts and instructions”, pushing back against liturgical abuses in the Novus Ordo.

Returning to themes employed very early on in his pontificate, Leo XIV urged liturgical reverence along with adherence to the approved rites laid out by the Church. The Pope’s words came in a message sent to Cardinal Arthur Roche and the participants of a liturgical conference at the Benedictine monastery of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon.

Drawing on Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, Leo urged the conference to “explore concrete paths for liturgical formation at every level in the Body of Christ,” in order to aid in “revitalising the liturgical life of the universal Church”.

Echoing one of the central points of his most recent general audience, Leo pointed to Sunday Mass as a focal point of every Catholic’s liturgical life and formation. “The first practical opportunities for liturgical formation occur in our regular practice of gathering every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist,” he said.

Sunday Masses should be “profoundly formative, promoting an ever deeper understanding of the ars celebrandi, expressed not only by the celebrant of the liturgy, but also by the entire assembly,” he said.  

The Pontiff chiefly urged liturgical accuracy, calling on both clergy and anyone involved in the liturgy to ensure that abuses are not permitted. “In order to promote the dignified celebration of the sacred mysteries, we must emphasise the need for fidelity to the approved texts and instructions.”

Leo has been undertaking a gradual study of the various texts of the Second Vatican Council in his weekly general audiences, and is currently working through Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

Noting his own addresses on the subject, Leo added: “I have called attention to the respect that all those called to prepare the celebration of the divine mysteries, and priests in particular, must show toward the rites promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II. It is vital that this respect springs from an inner attitude of openness and trust in God, manifesting humility before his greatness and sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion’.”

In recent weeks, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship also made similar comments. Cardinal Robert Sarah – Roche’s immediate predecessor as DDW prefect – warned about “dramatic and widespread” liturgical “abuses” in the Novus Ordo. Sarah even argued that certain “excesses” in the traditional Mass were “in part justified” by the abuses evident in the Novus Ordo. To this day, the Novus Ordo “is often not celebrated as the Council would have intended and as the liturgical reform itself suggests,” he added.

Leo’s letter is not without precedent. He has very publicly called for renewed attention to rubrics and reverence in the liturgy, doing so first just one week into his nascent pontificate last year.  

Meeting with pilgrims for the Jubilee of Oriental Churches, Leo told them that “we have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty.”

Expanding on this in November, Leo noted that the liturgy “must comply with the established norms, be attentive to the different sensibilities of those participating and keep with the principle of wise inculturation.”

In addition, he urged that that the liturgy must “remain faithful to the solemn sobriety typical of the Roman tradition”, and that “every care should be taken to ensure that the simple beauty of the rites expresses the value of worship for the harmonious growth of the whole Body of the Lord.”

The August 14 conference which Leo addressed featured a number of DDW members officials, including the Abbot of Mount Angel Abbey himself who was appointed as a member of the DDW in 2025, after having spent 20 years as a consulter.  

Roche, and the DDW’s secretary Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, officiated at the conference, which was convened to address the question of “What is needed for better liturgical formation?”

The only other cardinal members of the DDW present at the conference were Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix and Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, with 18 participants listed in total.  

It is not to be confused with another liturgical conference also held in Oregon, namely the annual Sacred Liturgy conference, which features the celebration of the traditional Mass and draws a variety of prominent liturgical scholars.

Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.