2023-10-04 17:08:00
“We are not here to advance a parliamentary session or a reform plan,” the 86-year-old made clear on Wednesday at the start of the church conference. Many believers had hoped for concrete reforms, for example regarding women’s access to ordination or the treatment of homosexuals.
However, the pontiff and his Luxembourg synod coordinator Jean-Claude Hollerich had repeatedly emphasized in advance that the world synod was not initially regarding concrete changes, but rather regarding how Catholics wanted to interact with one another within the church and make decisions in the future. So you want to talk regarding the “how” rather than the “what”. That will come later in further steps.
The World Synod is considered one of Pope Francis’ most important reform projects in his ten-year term in office. The pontiff presents the synod as a large co-determination project. Around 365 voting members will take part in the conference from October 4th to 29th. The vast majority are bishops, but there are also other clergy and lay people – non-clergy. For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, 54 women were admitted as voting members.
Criticism of Francis’ world synod has already been voiced from both sides of the Catholic spectrum. Reformers expect that the World Synod will not bring any tangible changes either. They complain that the working paper previously drawn up in the local churches is far too vague. For conservatives, however, the entire process has gone far too far. The former prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, said that there was a danger that the synod would lose sight of what was actually Catholic and slide into a general sociology.
In view of such disputes, the pontiff warned all participants at the opening service on Wednesday that ideological battles should not play a role at the gathering. Political considerations should also not be important. “It is not necessary for the synod to grant this or that permission, to open this or that door.” He wanted the participants to present the image of a church that “does not divide internally and is never harsh on the outside”. The synod is not regarding strategies – and above all, the assembly should not be misunderstood as a parliament, Francis made clear.
In his address to the first plenary session in the followingnoon, Francis once more focused on the expectations of the World Synod. “The synod is not a meeting of friends to solve certain problems or express opinions. It is something different.” One should not forget that the protagonist of the synod is not the participants, but the Holy Spirit, said Francis in the large Vatican audience hall.
Among the synodals were Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, and the Archbishop of Salzburg, Franz Lackner. The Linz pastoral theologian Klara Csiszar was among the non-voting theological advisors at the meeting.
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