The feeding of the multitude

and the multiplication of loaves and fishes...

Would anyone actually use this story to justify "mass spectator" papal liturgies? After all, this was just a huge communal meal, not having any sort of religious significance in itself, unlike what was going on in the Temple (or the Last Supper--and how many people were present for that?). Was there any praying going on, or were people eating and conversing amongst themselves?

How many people there were aware of Christ's identity? Instead, did they not seem him as a merely human prophet and wished to make him a temporal ruler, a mere earthly king?

Was this (recent) practice due to Msgr. Marini, or to his predecessors? Or did John Paul II actually desire this? (Did Paul VI celebrate outdoor liturgies in St. Peter's Square? I don't know if he did, or if John XXIII did, or Pius XII.)

It is unforunate that Benedict XVI has continued the practice, whether it be for World Youth Day or for his papal visits to other countries. Then again, he has not yet replaced Msgr. Marini. The danger of spectacles such as the papal liturgies in Germany is that it can reinforce the [exaggerated] personality cult on the part of many surrounding the pope and focus too much attention on both the man and the office (since there would be not as much attention given to the man if it were not for his office), rather than to the liturgy itself (and to God). What conclusions would the Orthodox draw about the Latin understanding of the liturgy and liturgical piety when they observe such events? What do they think about the Latin understanding of the nature of the Church and the papacy? Would their fears of an "imperial bishop" not be allayed but be possibly worsened?

If limiting the number of people who can attend leads to security concerns (and I don't see how security at a cathedral would have to be greater than the security at a stadium or field), then perhaps the practice of papal visits to other countries should be revisited. It would be "nice" if everyone in the diocese could be present when the pope visits, but how many people would bother to be present when it is their own bishop celebrating the liturgy? I would rather see the role of the local bishop regain its importance to the life of the local Church (which is not to deny that many bishops have failings which they must address), than have a globe-trotting pope attempt to make up for lack of evangelization (or whatever the purpose of those visits might be). And then, if the pope does visit, to restrict attendance to papal liturgies to those who can fit inside the cathedral. If the pope wishes to preach to a larger audience, that would be ok, but not a mass spectator liturgy...

"What would St. Peter do?"

One could look at what happened at Pentecost and the numbers who were there, but how many people were actually there for the descent of the Holy Spirit? Besides it is one thing to preach to a multitude, another to celebrate the liturgy with them (especially if one is emphasizing the bodiliy component of prayer and "active" participation [which is widely misunderstood, the term participatio actuosa].

It's for similar concerns that I would not take or show or post photos of the Sacred Species, whether at Consecration during the liturgy or during Exposition--reducing the Body and Blood of our Lord to a spectacle destroys the Sacred Mystery and potentially harms the reverence due to Him--at the moment we look at the photo, particularly, but who is to say that it might not harm our Faith generally? And when we take a photo of the pope consecrating or elevating the Sacred Species, or holding a monstrance, are we focusing on the pope [or bishop or priest] or on Christ made present? Hence the psychological dangers of photography, especially the generation of a habit of recording images of everything, rather than attending to the reality they represent. One might say that the photo is of an ordained minister performing his service to Christ--just as we might wish to take a picture of someone fulfilling their office or function by doing their characteristic activity to remember them by, so we would take a picture of an ordained minister during the divine liturgy. But is it really necessary, especially when we recall that the ordained minister serves Christ and that Christ is the Alpha and Omega?