Avoid ‘extremes’ in liturgical inculturation, Vatican official tells new bishops
September 07, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: One of the two undersecretaries of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments told 49 newly appointed bishops to avoid “extremes” liturgical inculturation.
Bishop Aurelio García Macías said on September 4:
We must not be afraid of cultures, neither must we idealize them. We must not be afraid of diversity, neither must we sacrifice communion. We must not stifle the authentic creativity of the Spirit, neither must we confuse it with arbitrariness. We must not turn the liturgy into a museum of immutable forms, neither must we turn it into a permanent laboratory.
Bishop García also told the new bishops to avoid unnecessary innovation, syncretism, and folklore. Syncretism, he said, is a “particularly sensitive issue in areas where traditional religions remain culturally very much alive.”
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