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ON 4 OCTOBER, Pope Francis opened the Synod in the Vatican.
The first phase of the mysteriously titled ‘Synod on Synodality’ is taking place until 29 October.
The second phase will be held a year later, in October 2024.
It has been several years in the making, and some within the Catholic Church hope that it will usher in a new and more inclusive way of thinking.
Others fear it could signal a break away from more than 2,000 years of Church teaching and tradition.
Both sides were bolstered in their positions when on the eve of the Synod, the Vatican released a letter in which Pope Francis appeared to signal an openness to blessing same-sex unions.
The word “synod” means “assembly” but Pope Francis describes it as “journeying together” and listening to one another to discern the best path forward for the Church.
Pope Francis said he wanted to hear from the entire Church about what is happening in local parishes and to ask what the Church can do to make parishes better.
The current Synod is the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
The Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which sets out how the Church is governed and organised, describes the Synod of Bishops as a body that assists the Pope with their counsel and “consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world”.
However, for the first time, women and laypeople will have a vote in the assembly.
Up to now, voting members of synods have been all men, and this consisted of bishops and 10 elected priests.
However, in changes published by the Vatican in April and approved by Pope Francis, only five priests will be elected to the synod, and they will be joined by five nuns or sisters.
At previous synods, women held marginal roles as observers, however this time round they will be allowed to cast a vote.
There are 464 participants in the synod, 365 of whom are voting members.
While the majority of the voting members are bishops, 70 are non-bishop members and 54 of these are women.
The 70 non-bishop members were chosen from the seven international Bishops’ Conferences.
Pope Francis has been at pains to note that the synod “is not a parliament” and that there will be a priority on listening.
A notable sign of this priority on listening is seen in the physical layout of the venue.
In previous synods, the Pope was aloof on the stage, with the rest of the members seated in an arena setting – cardinals, bishops and priests at the front, and the few laypeople who are invited at the back.
This time round, laypeople and bishops sit at roundtables of 10 to 12 people (who all share a language) and discuss rather than read from scripts as often happened in the past.
Pope Francis has also been taking part in some of these roundtable discussions, which are overseen by a “facilitator” in order to “create a fruitful dynamic”.
Really striking to see Pope Francis addressing the #synod not from the stage, where we usually see him, but from one round table among many. pic.twitter.com/e66mWJwqt6
— Colleen Dulle (@ColleenDulle) October 4, 2023
One female voting member of the synod explained: “The intention is to make this a spiritual conversation.
“There’s not a lot of speech-making here and the focus is on speaking my truth, and to hear the truth that others have to share, and to see what type of consensus might emerge from that process.”
On 28 October, the day before the conclusion of the first phase of the Synod, members with voting rights will express their approval or disapproval of a document which summarises the conversations which are on-going.
The current synod has been years in the making and was formally announced in March, 2020.
Since 2021, the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics have been invited to express their views on the Catholic Church and its challenges to help guide the institution through the 21st Century.
In Ireland, this insight from local parishes was distilled into a national synthesis document, which in turn fed into a continental document which has been presented at the Synod.
The Irish Bishops’ Conference said “special care was taken to involve those persons who may risk being excluded, such as women, members of the LGBTQI+ community, members of the Travelling community, and refugees”.
A “listening process” was also held with abuse survivors.
The report from the Irish Bishops’ Conference found an “overwhelming call for the full inclusion of LGBTQI+ people in the Church, expressed by all ages”.
And while Pope Francis’ “compassionate approach” was described as “transformative and appreciated”, there were calls for an apology from the Church for its treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.
A submission from an LGBTQI+ focus group noted: “Even though the Church rarely condemns gay people these days, it indirectly creates an atmosphere where physical, psychological and emotional abuse of gay people is tolerated and even encouraged.”
And while some called for a change in Church teaching, others expressed “concern” that this would lead to the Church “conforming to secular standards”.
Meanwhile, the report noted that “the role of women in the Church was mentioned in almost every submission received”.
Some submissions also called for women to be able to enter the priesthood, a ban upheld by Pope Francis.
A call was also issued for the Church to “reflect on the injustice brought upon women by Church and State, and cultural norms in society”.
The report also described as an “open wound” the “physical, sexual and emotional abuse and its concealment by the Church in Ireland”.
The Irish Bishops’ Conference commended the report to the synod and said it hopes the report will result in “more inclusive outreach, reaching out to those who have left the Church behind and in some cases feel excluded, forgotten or ignored”.
The current Synod is the first time the Vatican has waded into so many of today’s contentious social issues so openly.
The topics to be addressed include the place of LGBTQ+ people within the Church, whether women should be ordained, and whether married men can serve as priests in regions with insufficient clergy, among others.
While the discussions within the synod are private to allow for frank discussions, they are not secret, and the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community often comes up in media briefings.
Fr. Timothy Radcliffe at the start of the next #synod session says:
— Christopher White (@cwwhiteNCR) October 9, 2023
"So many people feel excluded or marginalized in our church because we have slapped abstract labels on them: divorced and remarried, gay people, polygamous people, refugees, Africans, Jesuits!" pic.twitter.com/ItRDns7G86
On the eve of the synod, five conservative cardinals questioned Pope Francis on the blessing of same-sex couples.
Conferring blessings on same-sex couples is something that Catholic churches in Belgium and Germany have been doing without sanction from the Vatican for several years.
The five cardinals said their aim was to inform the faithful “so they are not subject to confusion, error and discouragement”.
In a response made public two days before the synod, Pope Francis appeared to suggest a way for the blessing of same-sex couples by priests.
While insisting that the Church only recognises marriage between a man and a woman, the Pope said that “we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude”.
“Pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage,” he wrote.
This response from Pope Francis on the eve of the Synod was seen by many as setting the tone for the discussions ahead.
The conservative wing of the Catholic Church has long been at odds with Pope Francis, claiming that he risks creating confusion and division in the Church and expressing worries over doctrinal changes on issues such as gay rights or celibacy.
Pope Francis first incurred their wrath when, early into his papacy, he said: “If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?”
This was in response to an Italian journalist asked Pope Francis what he would say to a gay person who was seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Later, Pope Francis called for the Church apologise for the harm it has caused to the LGBTQ+ community, saying: “We Christians have to apologise for so many things, not just for this [treatment of gay people], but we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologise.”
And during his visit to Ireland in August 2018, the Pope was asked what advice he would give to the parent of a gay child.
“Don’t condemn; dialogue, understand, make space for them, let them express themselves,” he said.
“Silence is never a remedy. To ignore a son or daughter who is homosexual is a lack of paternity and maternity.
“You are my son or daughter as you are; I’m your father, mother… let’s talk.”
Of the 365 voting members of the Synod, Pope Francis picked 120.
Those handpicked by Pope Francis include Father James Martin, who ministers to LGBTQ+ Catholics.
Last year, Fr Martin told The Journal: “I say to LGBT people, it’s your Church too. If you’re baptised, then you’re as much a part of the church as your local priest or bishop, or even the Pope. It’s your church too.”
Also chosen personally by Pope Francis was Cardinal Gerhard Müller.
He’s a frequent critic of Pope Francis, has labelled the current Synod a “hostile takeover” of the Church, and has accused Fr Martin of spreading heresy.
Meanwhile, women within the Church hope this can be the moment to seize on real change for their role.
Women are barred from the priesthood and highest ranks of power, yet arguably responsible for the lion’s share of Church work – teaching in Catholic schools, running Catholic hospitals and passing the faith down to next generations.
They have long demanded a greater say in church governance, up to the right to be ordained as priests.
Before the opening Mass for the synod, advocates for women priests unfurled a giant purple banner reading: “Ordain Women.”
There was a time when most Catholic masses were said in Latin by a priest who had his back to the congregation.
Then came along the Second Vatican Council in the early 60s which tried to bring the Church into the modern world, and allowed masses to be said by a priest speaking the local language while facing the congregation.
Some say a Third Vatican Council could be in the making following the current synod, with seismic change regarding priestly celibacy or the ordination of women to the priesthood.
For this part, Pope Francis has poured cold water on the prospect of a Third Vatican Council any time soon.
Others hold that little will change following the Synod, which will conclude fully in early 2025 when a final document on the Synod will be given to the Pope.
This document will be formulated after the second phase of the Synod, which will take place this time next year.
Pope Francis will then decide whether or not to incorporate its findings into a papal document known as an apostolic exhortation.
If approved by the Pope, it will become part of the Church’s official teaching.
While the possibility of real change on previously taboo topics has given hope to many women and progressive Catholics, it has sparked alarm among conservatives who warn it could lead to a split in the Church.
- Diarmuid Pepper will be reporting on the Synod from Rome next week and you can follow on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Diarmuid_9
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A bunch of men that think a magic man created everything have a meeting to discuss what this magic man wants.
@FFS This:
You don’t sound like one of the most content people on the planet there I must say.
@FFS This: and it seems that magic man frequently changes his mind
@Tommy Haze: I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m very contented and have had a good life and a wonderful family. How bout you?
@FFS This: I’m not a particularly devote Catholic and their stain on this country is something that will never be erased, but if we’re allowed comment and bash Catholicism on the journal.ie, why are the comments always closed on other religions? Especially the one that considers women as chattle, thinks gay people should be thrown from buildings, and has a belief system that is morally and culturally at odds with our own? I have no bother with people having a pop at the church, but shouldn’t we be allowed comment on all religious persuasions?
@FFS This: and what, I’m all right Jack pull up the ladder, is that it?
@Helen Murphy: I agree with you, it’s the same abrahamic nonsense that they all spout.
@Helen Murphy: Could be because here Christianity and especially Catholicism have existed in a position of power? Personally, I don’t care what religion you wish to practice as long as you don’t try and intermingle it with state affairs. Also, do you remember any other religions that maybe 50 or 100 years ago would have espoused those same views?
@Helen Murphy: Interesting to note that John XXIII declared that the Church now has no enemies. The enemies have won. Now check what year he was anti-poop.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Only a counterfeit RCC can co-exist with the masonic state.. They’re BFF’s 1500 years after the Church made concessions with constantine losing most of its supernatural power and we went into the dark ages.
@Diarmuid Hunt:
The idea that humanity improves through violence, aggression, and extermination is a secular conviction written as an evolutionary narrative based on the Origin of Species/Natural selection. The cheerleaders have bought so much into the poisonous conviction that only very few know how it emerged after the 1840’s Irish tragedy.
“In 500 years how the Anglo-Saxon race will have spread & exterminated whole nations; & in consequence how much the Human race, viewed as a unit, will have risen in rank.” Darwin
@FFS This: sounds like you like to invent caracatures and strawmen to dismiss everything that might disturb your cosy little secular bubble.
@Graham Light:
Anger ! They’ve given us anger !
@Regular John: but apart from anger, what has the atheist ever given us?!
@Tommy Haze: Must you? I guess the most content people on the planet condone the actions of Vatican pedos and thieves.
I too fail at numbering amongst the most content people on the planet. Just said I’d put that out there so you don’t have to make another vacuous post about it.
@FFS This: lmao. It needs to be said really
@FFS This: look at you ignoring the 74 women! Who’s the magic man though,I’m not up on this stuff.
Interesting fact.
84% of the world’s population identifies with a religious group. Members of this demographic are generally younger and produce more children than those who have no religious affiliation, so the world is getting more religious, not less.
I used to hate atheists. Now I understand where they’re coming from and have a lot of sympathy for them. Must be awful to go through life without ever experiencing True Love.
God bless you all.
@Tommy Haze: That’s demonstrably false, all data indicates that religious affiliation will decline by 30% in the next 25 years. The data also indicates that secular societies are happier and more content. Atheists are some of the happiest people on the planet because they don’t have to worry about burning eternally after death.
ps
Bravo Diarmuid. Courageous journalism opening up an article on Christianity on the Journal.
I’m recommending you for a Pulitzer Prize shortly and a Medal of Honour.
@FFS This:
Atheists happy and content?
Why do they always sound so angry then and spend an inordinate amount of time attacking people with religious beliefs?
Very mysterious.
@Tommy Haze: What’s your source Tommy?
@Tommy Haze: Correcting someone who’s trying to force complete nonsense on others isn’t being angry. Drowning a planet full of adults, children and animals because you had a bad day is being angry. Gwan ta fok with yer skudder.
@FFS This: Funny you should say that… the thing is I’m a Roman Catholic. I have friends who identify as Prodestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish, a natural state of affairs for anyone who works in aviation, as it is such an international industry. Now, the only people I have ever encountered that try to push their views on religion down my throat are those that consider themselves atheist!
@FFS This: also sea levels will rise.
@Joe x: Rejection of your claims isn’t pushing something down your throat. That’s just persecution complex nonsense.
@Joe x: the comments here would say the opposite
@FFS This: So why bring it up at all so? The only ones constantly telling us we are wrong are atheists doing exactly what you are doing now, ridiculing the beliefs of others
You call it rejecting what we believe in, but you forget that we are rejecting what you believe in too, but we don’t make the song and dance that atheists do.
@TheDosGuy: As far as I can see, the majority of commentators in this particular article seem to be of no belief. Quite frankly, I don’t care what they believe, but i find it ironic when FFS claims those who believe are forcing opinion down others’ throats when
1: he is actually the one shouting loudest, and
2: from personal experience the only ones I have experienced broaching the subject are self proclaimed atheists
@FFS This: so Western-centric. How will your atheistic platitudes bring comfort to a poor farmer in the developing world who has seen his family destroyed by an earthquake or killed by terrorists?
@FFS This: How is it “persecution complex nonsense”? After all, You are the one that claimed:
“Correcting someone who’s trying to force complete nonsense on others ”
You pretty much proved my point there by ridiculing the beliefs of others and myself. I have never heard anyone but atheists carry on that way.
@FFS This: Have you not got a mirror?
@FFS This:
You don’t seem angry at all … No sir… Not one bit ! Lol…
@Tommy Haze: . There is no God Tommy. Religion is mental illness. You use your mental illness to brow beat and look down on people. You even admit to harbouring hatred towards those who don’t share in you sickness.
@Tommy Haze: Whats true love?
We live on the most wonderful diverse planet science and rational thinking has advanced ( for the most part ) our lives mostly for the better . Religion offers us nothing but disappointment & division . War famine racism homophobia xenophobia pogroms holocaust persecution territorial wars all have some element of this nonsense . From the Roman persecution of the Jews to the Israeli bombing palestinians . Protestants fighting catholics , Sunni Muslims fighting Shia Muslims , Muslims fighting Christian’s in Nigeria . It all has the same root cause .
@Martainn O’keefe: Actually the biggest cause of war is nationalism . Religious cults don’t fight wars . Nations fight wars . It’s part of human nature to be in conflict with one another . If you want to erase war then you unite people . The more countries that exist in the world the more likely war will exist .
@Jack Moss: Crusades?
@Diarmuid Hunt: the world didn’t come divided up into nations . The map of the world was man made down through the centuries . It will continue to change long after your five minutes is up on this planet .
@Jack Moss: *ring ring… am, I have most of human history on the phone?
Subscribe to Cardinal Raymond Burke’s free newsletter if you want to hear intelligence, spirituality, logic, decency and a sincere intellectual who makes a lot of sense in a world where so called freedoms, more laws, more government has made the world more insecure than ever. You don’t have to believe, but you will believe his sincerity in helping us navigate this strange time. God doesn’t have all the answers when we are our own god and where no-one will tell us what to do, but there is another way.
If only all their minds, dedication and time could be focused on something useful instead of utter nonsense.
I was going to comment but what’s the point. Does anyone take any notice of him anymore?
All Religions should be respected. People shouldn’t make fun of another person’s beliefs. Mutual respect.
In whose opinion is it important?
@Pato: You forgot the L there
Eamon de Valera said there is God, so that’s alright with me
@Mary Toilet: oops, sorry, he said he was God, why i have a portrait of him and Bertie Ahern on my wall
@Mary Toilet: “Mary Toilet” – a masterpiece of wordplay! Well done
@Mary Toilet: Lol! (more for the Bertie Ahearn photo:)
The Catholic Church is the Roman Empire . The last emperors embraced christianity just before its collapse in 476CE .
A Holocaust survivor goes to God and tells him a Holocaust joke. God replies that it isn’t funny whereupon the Holocaust survivor says, “You’d have to have been there.”
“Cult leader begins meeting in city state with no extradition law, in building with billions of dollars worth of stolen art” – and they want to tell US how to live. Hahaha. Abolish the church.
History shows millions murdered in the name of a fictitious god. Every religion uses this BS to create division and hatred for others. Look at the crazy Russian orthodox and the insanity in Palestine at the moment
As far as the Catholic Church goes, as long as the prejudice conviction of natural selection/eugenics is celebrated, there is no room for Christ and Christianity.
The other tragedy is their inability to resolve the original difficulties that emerged with a heliocentric system that eluded Pope and Galileo.
This timelapse was taken from a satellite (travelling with the Earth) of Mercury moving behind the Sun. In contrast, Venus travels in the opposite direction between the Earth and the Sun, resolving the issue as only 21st-century satellite imaging can.
youtube.com/watch?v=w2uCtot1aDg
Nobody in the Church to demonstrate this to nor in the academic community so the comment section will have to do for the moment.
@Gearoid O’Ceilleachair: You have too much time on your hands
@Gearoid O’Ceilleachair: Jeepers, they can make anything with AI now.
An audience with Lily Savage, that was good as well.
Many ask where was God when the Jews entered the crematoria, and I ask where were reasonable people?. I fight against prejudice while I encounter mindless silence on this matter and that is always evil.
“I could show fight on natural selection having done and doing more for the progress of civilisation than you seem inclined to admit. Remember what risks the nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago, of being overwhelmed by the Turks and how ridiculous such an idea now is. The more civilised Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilised races worldwide.” Darwin
@Gearoid O’Ceilleachair: How about that Earth’s rotation eh!
Is it not “A historic”?
Get out of the costumes and distribute the wealth
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