The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments distinguishes the Sacred Liturgy, the Church’s supreme and obligatory act, from popular piety and devotional practices, which are legitimate but optional and must lead believers toward fuller participation in the liturgy. Bishops and pastors are to regulate and catechise these practices, purifying them of superstition and guiding their inculturation through Scripture, doctrine, tradition, and the Magisterium. The Directory grounds all worship in the Trinity, Christ’s Paschal Mystery, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and the Church’s priestly vocation, while excluding private revelations from any addition to the deposit of faith.

Practical guidance follows the liturgical year, from Advent, the Christmas crib, Epiphany, and the Presentation of the Lord to Lent, the Via Crucis, Holy Week, Easter, Corpus Christi, Marian devotions, and the feasts of the saints. It regulates processions, sacred images, relics, Eucharistic adoration, the Rosary, shrines, and pilgrimages, insisting that none displace the sacraments or become magical, commercial, or merely spectacular. Funeral customs are to express faith in the Resurrection and communion of saints: burial is preferred, cremation is permitted under specified conditions, and ashes belong in a sacred place. Shrines should centre on the Eucharist, reconciliation, worthy liturgy, hospitality, evangelization, and charity, with local bishops adapting these principles to regional traditions.