Actually I doubt Sacred word is super popular, but I don't understand why this edge was introduced and Holy word was made no longer able to be communed without a free hand.

By no means does Holy word seem too powerful, it's basically just a damage area commune with a very high mana cost. So no one is going to just spam it without very quickly struggling for mana, and normally (without the edge) you must also forgo either parry or shield block (or both in some cases). Aren't there like a zillion other similar area damage spells with a fraction of HW's mana cost?

Thus my proposal is that Sacred word be reincorporated back into Holy word.