Many people have duly noted that it would be incongruous for a Pope such as Benedict who calls us to more prayerful liturgy and deep meditation, to issue this kind of thing during the Sacred Triduum. It would not be in keeping with the extremely solemn and penitential spirit of the season.
I think the same is true for Easter Sunday. The sole "theme" for Easter is our Resurrected God and Lord. On Easter Monday, Pope Benedict leaves for a short vacation. I would expect something after that, either on the date of his election, or on the Feast of Pope Saint Pius V (April 30th), or just any old day, perhaps with the letter being
dated on Holy Thursday, but not released until whichever day the Pope chooses.
Aside from all that, the two Papal Masses today were marvelous. It seems the Chrism Mass was almost all totally in Latin, all the readings were chanted (not just the Gospel), and none by laymen. The entire Canon was chanted (Eucharistic Prayer III), and actually I think the only non-Latin language that was used was the homily, and maybe something else.
The afternoon Mass of the Lord's Last Supper was similar.
I was watching Archbishop Marini the entire time, imagining the emotional turmoil he must've been undergoing!
Though, admittedly, that shouldn't have been one of my focuses!
Logos Teen
