Setting the Record Straight: The True Music of Catholicdom

It is all about Roots.

Latin and Gregorian chant, which are deeply linked to the biblical, patristic, and liturgical sources, are part of an astounding tradition that, for twenty centuries, has been forged by the God-touched geniuses of Catholic musicians.  The obscuring of an entire tradition of prayer formed over two millennia has led to conditions favorable to a anarchic proliferation of new musical products which, in the majority of cases, have not been able to root themselves in the  tradition of the Church. The Catholic Church acknowledged "Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman Liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services". - Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium §116 (1963)

Pope Saint Pius X called "the chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from ancient fathers, which she has jealously guarded for centuries in her liturgical codices, which she directly proposes to the faithful as her own..." (Tra le sollecitudini §3)

True sacred popular singing will be more valid and substantial as it takes its inspiration from Gregorian chant. John Paul II took as his own the principle asserted by Saint Pius X: 

“A composition for the Church is all the more sacred and liturgical the more its development, inspiration, and flavor approaches the Gregorian melody, and the less worthy it is the more it distinguishes itself from that supreme model.” harmony in action. John Paul II recalled: “The musical aspect of liturgical celebrations cannot be left to improvisation or the decision of individuals, but must be entrusted to well-coordinated leadership, in respect for the norms and competent authorities, as the substantial outcome of an adequate liturgical formation.