Editing Sacrosanctum Concilium (section)

==''Aggiornamento'' and participation of the laity==
One of the first issues considered by the council, and the matter that had the most immediate effect on the lives of individual Catholics,{{cn|date=April 2025}} was the renewal of the liturgy. The central idea was ''aggiornamento'' of the traditional liturgical texts and rituals to reflect more fully fundamental principles, and be more pastorally effective in the changed conditions of the times, clarifying not only the role of ordained ministers but also the forms of appropriate participation of [[Catholic laity|lay faithful]].{{Quote | Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people ([[1 Peter]] 2:9; cf. 2:4–5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.{{sfn|Sacrosanctum concilium|loc=sec. 14}}}}

Popes [[Pius X]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://adoremus.org/1903/11/22/tra-le-sollecitudini/|title=Tra Le Sollecitudini Instruction on Sacred Music – Adoremus Bulletin|date=22 November 1903|work=Adoremus Bulletin|access-date=13 February 2018|archive-date=9 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200209100005/https://adoremus.org/1903/11/22/tra-le-sollecitudini/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Pius XII]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_25121955_musicae-sacrae.html|title=Musicae Sacrae (December 25, 1955) {{!}} PIUS XII|website=w2.vatican.va|access-date=13 February 2018}}</ref> asked that the people be taught how to chant the responses at Mass and that they learn the prayers of the Mass in order to participate intelligently. Now the bishops decreed that: "To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs."{{sfn|Sacrosanctum concilium|loc=sec. 30}} Composers should "produce compositions which&nbsp;... [provide] for the active participation of the entire assembly of the faithful."{{sfn|Sacrosanctum concilium|loc=sec. 121}} In all, there are 12 references to "active participation" in the document.<ref>McLaren, M., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24635696.pdf Sacrosanctum Concilium – a closer reading 50 years on], ''[[The Furrow]]'', December 2013, Volume 64, No. 12, accessed on 30 April 2025</ref>

After centuries when, with the Mass in Latin, Catholic piety centred around popular devotions, the bishops decreed that "Popular devotions ... should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them."{{sfn|Sacrosanctum concilium|loc=sec. 13}}