The recently-completed Papal Visit (UK) has had a number of fascinating results already, including the (potential) defeat of the long-standing “Vatican Rottweiler” meme that Margaret mentioned this morning.
Given my 5-day absence from the IntraWebs, I’m still sifting through all the commentary that has sprung up in the wake of the Pope’s visit. But given my pre-visit (and, perhaps, unfair) obsession with the altar planned for the Beatification of Cardinal Newman in Cofton Park, I found this little side-note from Damian Thompson more than a bit fascinating — apparently, not all of the visit’s altars were L. Ron Hubbard-inspired:
I don’t, alas, remember anything about the Mass celebrated in the cathedral by Pope John Paul II in 1982 – but I’ve been looking at photographs of it and I’m struck by the radically different configurations of the sanctuary in 1982 and 2010.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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The high altar at which Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass yesterday was actually hidden behind a curtain for the 1982 Mass, which was celebrated by Pope John Paul II at a free-standing altar (now thankfully discarded) much nearer the congregation. In those days Bentley’s high altar was thought to be a beautiful anachronism, redolent of the supposedly defunct Tridentine Mass. (Little did they know…)
Check out Thompson’s post for the “before and after” shots, or have a look at the BBC’s photographic coverage of the Mass, which occurred on Day Three.