Synodality on all levels of the Church's life, strengthening the power of women and debating the deacon, greater appreciation of the "diversity" of the cultural Church and changes in the liturgy that are intended to lead to a stronger participation of the secular ones – these are the proposals of the Synod of Synod of Synodality completed today.
It's over. The vote on the final paper closed on Saturday the Synod on Synodality. On Sunday there will be a Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, which will officially close the proceedings; but what was to be decided was already decided. The final paper is simply a concrete fruit of an unprecedented process of global consultations, which began at Francis' will in 2021. This time, the Pope will not declare apostolic adhortation; I want everyone to just read the final paper and consider it theirs, which is consistent with the records Episcopalis communio 2018.
What was announced in Rome?
In a speech inactive in Paul VI's Hall, Pope Francis said that there are and will be concrete decisions to be made. He stressed that peculiar committees were inactive working and that it would take time to make various issues. The Pope pointed out that The Church must decision forward together in its diversity. Pointing to the advanced value of the final document, he stressed that he chose not to print the apostolic adhortation, but to urge everyone to read the final text.
The final paper was presented by Cardinals Mario Grech, the secretary of the Synod of Bishops and Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general of the synod. In addition, there were besides s. Maria de los Dolores Palencia Gómez and priests Giacomo Costa and Riccardo Battocchio.
The head of communication of the Vatican Paolo Rufus stressed that the final paper was adopted by the required majority of 2/3 votes.
Card. Mario Grech said that in the Catholic Church the issue of leadership – being a leader – does not necessarily depend on having a sacrament of ordination; he pointed to cases of local communities, where the priest is rarely, and due to this, in fact the management of the unsanctified people there. He spoke about this in the context of the function of women.
The final paper indicates that the case of the women's deaconate remains open. This is in line with the last words of the card. Victor Fernández; however, it is not known whether the synod meant the sacramental Deacon or not.
Card. The president of the ECB He said the women's deaconate case was very delicate. He emphasized that if the Holy Father accepted the final paper as his own, that means accepting this passus – that means that the issue of women's deaconate is open in the opinion of the Pope. This does not mean that Francis will introduce the deaconate of women or that he will not introduce it; only that the discussion on this subject will continue.
Purplet besides talked about changes in the liturgy. He stated that there was no plan of "revolution" in the liturgy in this sense to replace secular priests; but that it was about introducing more "participation" of people in the liturgy.
All in the Church are to be included in the “synodical formation”. This should include training candidates for priesthood, which would be achieved, for example, through a greater participation of women in teaching seminarians. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich besides mentioned this. However, he pointed out that synod formation is meant to mean something "more" than just allowing women to train future priests.
Progressive Synod Beginnings
From the very beginning, the synod was very emotional, due to the fact that many people of the Church were absurdly unobvious of it. Synod talk about synodity? What does that mean? Oils were added to the fire by various Vatican purples, who with disarming sincerity admitted that The concept of synodality is undefined and needs to be filled with content. There was increasing distrust among bishops, priests, and believers, all the more so due to the fact that progressors in German and Latin American countries were very pleased with the process. What's more, – the Pope entrusted leadership positions on the synod to people who favour reformist ideas. The full process was managed by Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, and the work for the creation of papers rested on the Luxembourg purple card. Jean-Claude Hollerichu. Bishops from Germany have declared loudly that they want to present their agenda to the full world: fresh function of women in the Church, democratisation, relativization of sexual morality, changes in priestly life...
The first synod papers published in 2021 indicated that Germany knew what they were saying. The texts were full of references to the abuse crisis, suggesting the request to introduce large changes in the Church; they pointed to the necessity of leaning over "marginalised groups" specified as women or homosexuals; it was written about the redevelopment of the "pyramidal structure of the Church" so as to completely change decision-making processes; finally, in synodical papers there was a very unorthodox explanation of who is actually a associate of the Church and on what basis the Church can make decisions, besides doctrinal.
"Unserious" synod?
However, many people rapidly became convinced that the trial was most likely not besides serious. Shortly after the synod process was announced, the pope made authoritarian and very restrictive decisions regarding conventional liturgy. Despite a large wave of criticism, he did not even step back; his officials began to reenforce the limitations. In the autumn of 2021, erstwhile the large synod consultations in dioceses around the planet began, attention was paid to the inability to conduct them reliably due to insufficient time to prepare. In February 2022, a war broke out in Ukraine and the attention of a large part of the planet was mostly diverted to this conflict, which did not aid the sense of synodity. In October 2023, participants of the synod met for the first time in Rome. There was widespread complaint about the limited transparency of the proceedings, the various threads that were ignored by the Vatican were demanded. The congregations wanted to talk, among another things, about the approach to rainbow environments. In vain: 2 months after the closing of those meetings Card. Fernández announced “Fiducia supplicans” about blessing LGBT couples. Without consulting this paper with anyone outside the narrow ellipse of the Vatican, he led to the largest interior earthquake in the past of the Church of the last centuries – the full continent, Africa, rejected the papal document.
Like that's not enough, in February 2024, Francis announced that 10 peculiar committees would be sitting alongside the synod, which will address various topics crucial to the participants of the synod. The commissions were top-down by experts...
Therefore, erstwhile the Synod delegates from all over the planet came to Rome 4 weeks ago, there was alternatively no enthusiastic atmosphere. Everyone was aware that the Pope treated the three-year synodial process solely as a circumstantial ‘school of conversation’, but no concrete decisions are going to be made – these will fall completely elsewhere. In fact, Francis announced that by June 2025 he was waiting for reports of 10 committees – and only then any reforms could actually decision forward.
The final paper of the synod is so hard to consider as a decision-making vote. The Synods are in general simply advisory to the pope; but usually St. Peter’s successors were implementing to any degree what was decided upon. This time it could be literally... However, it depends on what the Pope will like. Well, the Church is yet a monarchy; the question is what was all this for?
But something has changed...
However, it is not specified that the synod process does not have any effect, not even independent of the document, at all. Firstly, the issue of the “Fiducia supplicans” in December 2023 was in any sense a immense emphasis on the Holy See the progressive environment. The Belgians had previously introduced liturgical blessings for homosexuals, the same as the Germans, Austrians, and Swiss; the Liberals in Italy and the US were talking about this... The subject truly resonated powerfully in the synod debates and the Vatican felt compelled to act – introducing a ban on liturgical blessings while at the same time agreeing to bless "beyond the liturgy", which in any case was a powerful scandal.
The second effect is to push forward the "women's question". It is without a shadow of a uncertainty the large success of the Germanic communities. During the Synod debates, voices about the necessity of "greater inclusion" of women in the decision-making processes in the Church spread throughout the world, but the subject was introduced and driven precisely by the German Synod Way – in large cooperation with any bishops and laymen from Latin America, frequently about German roots and almost always benefiting from German financial support. The Synod itself will not make any decisions on this matter, but Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández announced very clearly that the Dicastery of the Doctrine of religion would prepare a paper on the place of female in the Church, giving them “more space and power”. Moreover, it was not until during the Synod Session in Rome that Fernández concluded now that Francis “does not close the door” for the introduction of women's deaconate in the Catholic Church. Without the synodistic force of the progressives, this would undoubtedly not be the case; the final paper yet confirmed it. The debate on the deacon of women so progresses.
The proposals for liturgical changes are besides worrying. This has already been mentioned in erstwhile synod documents, pointing to the alleged request to make the liturgy more participatory and open to the participation of different groups. The priest would proceed to lead the liturgy, but in a way he would no longer stand so powerfully in the center. The circumstantial nature of these changes and whether they will be introduced is yet to be seen.
Could it have been worse?
Undoubtedly – yes, it could have been worse. If conservative environments around the planet hadn't tried to halt the momentum of progressives, the synod would most likely have ended with a much stronger call for doctrinal decentralization or even circumstantial utmost reformist demands. In 1 of the interviews at the end of the synod, the liberal Fr Tomasz Halik of the Czech Republic admitted that the participants of the synod from east European countries did not want to accept progressive ideas. "Unmaturity," the priest suggested... Well, with God's aid there were many bishops who opposed specified an agenda.
In Action Against Progressives The Fr Piotr Skarga Christian Culture Association besides joined.
Still in 2021 InWe wrote a brochure on the liberal synod agenda to all bishops and priests in Poland.
In 2023 we played a key function in creating an extended analysis of the bishop's work for the universal Church. The analysis that was sent to almost all bishops in the world!
The Association's media kept up-to-date on what was happening around the synod, exposing the top threats. The portal PCh24.pl is read by Catholics not only in Poland, but besides in another countries – we know that Catholic journalists in countries specified as Slovakia, Austria, large Britain, Germany and Mexico are among our materials... Combined with effort and most of all the prayer of many people Sincerely afraid about the future of the Church, as may be thought, all of this helped to at least minimize the loss, that is, to prevent the progressive agenda from full mastering the synod.
Conclusion
How all this will substance to the applicable life of the Church – we will see. Unlike usual after the Synods of Bishops, the Pope did not decide to print post-synodal adhortation. He wanted to read the full final document. This does not mean that the text should have any peculiar authority. It is likely that Francis will decide to print his own text only erstwhile circumstantial proposals prepared by all peculiar committees are placed on his desk. It can then make sui generis merge these reports with the final synod document; or compose completely people text, only loosely based on all these papers.
Today, everything points to 4 things: Gradually expanding the function of women in the Church, possibly in the direction of the deaconate; changes in the liturgy, which are not to be "revolutionary", but nevertheless aimed at "greater participation" of the secular; strengthening consultation processes on all levels of church life, which may in practice restrain the bishop's decision-making freedom; perpetuating the problem of doctrinal atomization that has existed for years, or making decisions in various countries of the planet on matters of religion and morality that de facto violate the bond with the universal Church.
Synodist protagonists declare that the "synodization" of the Church has actually begun. So the fight continues – and together with you we will effort to take the most active part in it. We stay trusting in the assistance of the Holy Spirit and Christ's promise: Hell's gates can't beat him.
Paweł Chmielewski
SPECIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE paper OF THE PRESENT IN A individual ARTICLE
