VATICAN CITY — A draft Vatican document that addresses liturgical abuses has come under the media spotlight after reports that an internal debate within the Roman Curia delayed its publication.

The leaked document, to be printed in full in the October edition of the Italian journal Jesus, is said to have caused objections from some cardinals and bishops.

The Italian newspaper Il Messagero, which printed a portion of the text, claimed the draft, which was completed in June, was considered “too conservative,” with certain Church leaders finding the document “excessively harsh.”

But Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, cautioned that it is too early to speculate on the draft.

In an interview with the Register, Cardinal Arinze advised people to study Pope John Paul II's encyclical on the Eucharist, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, issued in April, to prepare themselves for the upcoming document, which is a follow-up to the encyclical.

The draft document reportedly discourages the distribution of Communion under both species of bread and wine and says altar girls are permissible only “for a good reason.”

The document also disapproves of “liturgical dance” and frowns on the practice of applause from the congregation during the Eucharistic liturgy, despite the fact that congregations often applaud at papal liturgies in St. Peter's Basilica.

Work began on the document at the instruction of John Paul to address abuses in the Eucharistic liturgy and make “prescriptions of a juridical nature,” as outlined in Ecclesia de Eucharistia.

According to Jesus, a Rome-based publication of the Society of St. Paul, the document, whose working title is ” Pignus Redemptionist ac Futurae Gloriae” (” A Pledge of Redemption and of Future Glory” ), addresses 37 abuses against the Eucharist.

The document is being drawn up by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

According to Jesuit Father Keith Pecklers, professor of liturgy at the Gregorian University in Rome, there “was agreement on some points in the document” during a recent plenary session of consultors at the divine worship congregation.

But he added there was also “some significant discussion” and “concerns raised by some cardinals on other points in the document.” The result “was that the document was returned to the working group for substantial revision before any vote could be taken,” he said.

“I would judge it premature to comment on a document that has yet to emerge,” Father Pecklers continued, “especially since we have no idea just how closely it will resemble what had been proposed in the earlier draft.”

The consultation process for such documents is lengthy, entailing a series of revisions, observations and redrafts. The reported rejection of this draft for further revision is therefore “quite normal,” according to Jesuit Father Kevin Flannery, dean of philosophy at the Gregorian University. “A document is distributed, and those called to the meeting are asked to make comments that they know will possibly lead to changes,” he said.

Father Flannery was also suspicious that applause and dance were “not allowed,” as these words were not directly quoted from the draft.

“I would not be surprised if it said that applause is not to be encouraged by the celebrant,” he said. “There is often applause during the liturgies at St. Peter's, but the Pope never ‘calls for it.’ It would be absurd to prohibit applause itself.”

Concerning dancing, Father Flannery pointed out that it has also been part of papal liturgies at St. Peter's. “I would imagine that the document said, or says, that dance should be limited to certain situations,” he said.

Dancers in traditional costume danced at the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Asia in St. Peter's in 1998, for example.

On the other hand, he said, together with the added willingness to dialogue with the Orthodox and the Oriental Churches, the Anglicans and Protestant communities, he could “quite understand the prevalent feeling in the dicasteries [Vatican departments] that we must keep our own house in order.”

Another anonymous source told the Register the origins of the document “go back to the Second Vatican Council.” He added there were “no divisions within or between the dicasteries” over the document and that reports on the draft document have been a “huge misrepresentation of the situation and blown out of all proportion.”

“The document was probably given to journalists to allow them to play around with it, to discredit it in an attempt to rally those who are opposed to it,” he said. “I think many who have pushed for greater freedoms in the Eucharistic Liturgy would be dumbstruck at the way it has been practiced over the years, and Pope John Paul is merely moderating those excesses.”

Cardinal Arinze, meanwhile, refused to be drawn into any speculation. “Any comments would be premature and misleading,” the cardinal told the Register. “I'm not going to speak when the document is not finished. People should be more patient.”

The cardinal, who is hoping to release the document at the end of the year, said, “Those who will be alive when the document is published — as I hope I will be — will have plenty of time to comment on it then.”

“In the meantime let them study the encyclical on the Eucharist of the Holy Father, which will be more fruitful,” he said. “That's the best way to prepare themselves for the document on which we are working.”

Edward Pentin writes from Rome.