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From one synod session to another, where do we stand?
“The Holy People of God has been set in motion for mission thanks to the synodal experience,” declared Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich S.J., General Rapporteur of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
Invited to exchange ideas using the method of spiritual conversations, clergy and laity have learned to listen to and freely share their vision of the Church.
This is undoubtedly the most significant outcome: the experience of living synodality.
These exchanges have highlighted the diversity of ways the same Christian faith is lived from one continent to another.
The Church has discovered itself to be plural in a unity that must be experienced differently.
How should we envision the Church’s role in unity?
What authority should the Pope exercise and how? This question cannot be considered apart from the relationship between the Churches.
“Synodality and ecumenism are, in fact, two paths that proceed together, united by a common goal: that of communion, which means a more effective witness by Christians “so that the world may believe,” the Pope said.
The blessing of homosexual couples
While the synodal method has proven fruitful, some unfortunate breaches have somewhat tarnished its credibility: such is the case with the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans, a text that authorised the blessing of homosexual couples wishing to live together.
The issue had emerged from the initial consultations and was to be debated at the second synodal session. Rome preempted this discussion, which was regrettable.
Even more surprising was Pope Francis’ “no” to the diaconate of women during an American TV interview May 21.
This public stance, outside the synodal reflection process, was very poorly received! On the highly sensitive issue, what is the Pope’s real position? His hesitations are perceptible.
‘De-masculinising’ the Church
Since 2017, the Pope has striven to include more women in the Church’s missionary fabric and continually repeated various calls to “demasculinise the Church.”
He initiated two successive commissions to work on women’s diaconate, which unfortunately did not succeed due to disagreements among members.
Four times since the end of the first synod session, the Pope has taken the initiative to bring women into the C9, his private council of cardinals.
He entrusted the organisation of these meetings to Linda Pocher, Salesian sister and theologian, professor of Christology and Mariology at the Auxilium in Rome.
At her request, a first meeting focused on an aspect of the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar: the Marian principle and the Petrine principle, which he used to exclude the ordination of women.
The three theologians present demonstrated the inadequacy of this aspect of von Balthasar’s theology regarding the potential ordination of women.
What did the Pope take from this?
He prefaced the book Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church that recounted this meeting, stating:
“These reflections (…) aim to open rather than close; to provoke thought, invite seeking, and help in prayer (…) the final outcome is in God’s hands.”
At risk of schism?
Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers reflected: “The first reason is the Pope’s responsibility as the ultimate guardian of the Church’s unity.
It is his role to assess the Church’s “elasticity” in its vast geographic, historical, cultural, and ideological diversity.
The awareness of diverse approaches to Christian life in a globalised Church has created tensions, and the role of women, in particular, is perceived very differently depending on the country.
Can the Church as a whole calmly accept a modification of its ecclesial status? Hence the este momento, no va (not now) from Pope Francis.”
Indeed, the risk of schism cannot be excluded, but isn’t immobility already generating one?
Besides the mass departure of women from the ecclesial fabric, we cannot ignore the presbyteral ordinations of women by Catholic bishops, disobeying the Pope in several regions of the world.
This revolt must be taken seriously.
The question then arises: how to live this “equality” between men and women that is at the heart of the Gospel message and which the Church’s mission needs today?
We need “a deep reflection on the sacrament of orders.
Is everything about it intangible, fixed for eternity?” Archbishop Vesco suggested.
Christ was not a priest; he left the Church to organise the spiritual service of God’s people without giving a rule other than love.
The hierarchical triad of deacon, priest, and bishop has structured the Church’s organisation for two millennia, but it is merely a framework that can and must evolve.
Habits of the old Church
Jesuit theologian Christoph Theobald, who teaches theology in Paris, explained this, clearly emphasising how much the hCurch needs a synodal theology and ecclesiology .
As the early Church spontaneously lived, it is from the spiritual needs of God’s people and the various charisms given by the Spirit to the baptised that ecclesial responsibilities, entrusted ministries, and necessary authority ensuring the unity of the Eucharistic Body of Christ must be adjusted.
In conclusion, the current synod is a process; the people of God are on the move.
They need to convert to listening to the differences among their brothers and sisters. They need theological reflection rooted in the heart of the Christian message.
They need pastoral imagination to invent ways to reach God’s people in the diversity of their needs. Everything is connected!
But we are only beginning to recognise this civilisational change that is shaking the old Church’s habits.
As the Pope invites us, we must be pilgrims of hope, confident that the Holy Spirit guides the Church, provided we are receptive to God, with open hearts and minds to God’s light, with humble patience, Adsumus!
- First published in La Croix
- Christiane Joly, is a member of the Apostolic Community of Saint Francis Xavier, author of the French work Sent Together! The Role of Women in the Church’s Mission, for a Synodal Reflection
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