"Culto DiNoia" Comes to Pass

As foreseen for the better part of a year, this morning the Pope transferred Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith back to his native Sri Lanka to lead the 700,000-member archdiocese of Colombo, the island-nation's most prominent local church.

With Ranjith now exiled from the Curia a second time, replacing the controversial prelate as second-in-command at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is (as likewise expected) the trusted aide to Joseph Ratzinger, onetime top theologian to the US bishops and professor at DC's Dominican House of Studies: namely, the New York-born Gus di Noia OP.

The first American in four decades to be given a lead role in overseeing the global church's liturgical life, the wire reports that the archbishop-elect will be ordained to the episcopacy on 11 July -- the day after his 66th birthday -- in Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

As top Curial officials are traditionally ordained bishops at the Vatican or elsewhere in Rome, the choice of venue is fairly unique. Despite the lag-time until the post's sacramental element is conferred, however, the new secretary's transition to Culto Divino and its work (new English missal included) begins immediately.

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