Introduction

In the wake of the publication of the motu proprio Summorum pontificum (2007), one commentator was quick to complain that its author “was not a trained liturgist,” and while he agreed that the author was someone who “has shown interest and sensitivity in liturgical matters,” the commentator insisted that he had demonstrated “a real misunderstanding of the liturgy’s role in the life of the Church.”¹

The author was, of course, Pope Benedict XVI—Joseph Ratzinger—a priest, bishop, cardinal, and pope who had more than enough academic degrees but, seemingly, had committed the unforgivable sin of speaking (indeed legislating) about the sacred liturgy without a specific liturgical training.

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