Synod, October 10: New synod guidelines announced, but not made public, as discussion of transparency begins

October 11, 2024

On October 10, 342 of the 365 participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI audience hall to concluded their consideration of the session’s second module, “Relations” and began their consideration of the third module, “Pathways” (synod agenda),

“Relations” is the title of the first part of the session’s instrumentum laboris, or working document (pp. 11-22); “Pathways” is the title of the second part (pp. 23-34). “Pathways” has four sections:

• An integral and shared formation
• Ecclesial discernment for mission
• Decision-making processes
• Transparency, accountability, and evaluation

“In our time, the demand for transparency and accountability in and by the Church has come about as a result of the loss of credibility due to financial scandals and, even more so, sexual abuse and other abuses of minors and vulnerable persons.” according to the final section. “The lack of transparency and accountability fuels clericalism, which is based on the implicit assumption that ordained ministers are accountable to no one for the exercise of the authority vested in them” (n. 75).

The synod participants are considering transparency on sexual abuse amid a rare public conflict between officials of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Secretariat of State over the laicization of an Argentine priest. Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the powerful Sostituto, invoked an unnamed “extraordinary procedure” in an attempt to overturn the canonical sentence against Ariel Príncipi (commentaries by Phil Lawler, Ed Condon).

Cardinal Hollerich: toxic relationships

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, the synod session’s relator-general, introduced the third module in an Italian-language address.

“The richness of the web of relationships that constitute the Church, which we have contemplated in recent days, is at the same time powerful and fragile; it is a great gift that we receive, but one which needs care,” he said. “Without care, relationships quickly wither and above all become toxic for the people involved, as the many cases of relational failures in our societies and also in our communities show us.”

Cardinal Hollerich continued, “Care is therefore the first focus of our Module: with what tools can we support and nourish the relational fabric that people and communities need? What can make them stronger and what instead kills and extinguishes relationships?”

Emphasizing “coherence between words and practices,” he asked:

What articulation of the decision-making processes in the Church is consistent with what we say about the relationships between vocations, charisms and ministries, about their reciprocity and complementarity? And with the statements about the dignity of every baptized person? Care and coherence are therefore the keys with which we are invited to address the subject.

Cardinal-designate Radcliffe: ‘Go on questioning’

Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe, OP, one of the synod session’s two spiritual assistants, offered a meditation.

Invoking the example of the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel, Father Radcliffe said that “our task in the Synod is to live with difficult questions and not, like the disciples, get rid of them.” He explained:

Also there are deep questions which underlie so many of our discussions. How can men and women, made in the image and likeness of God, be equal and yet different? We must not avoid the question, like the disciples, by denying either the equality or the difference. And how can the Church be the community of the baptized, all equal, and yet the Body of Christ, with different roles and hierarchy? These are deep questions. We advance into the mystery of Divine Love by living with these questions, praying about them, listening to each other, pondering on them day and night.

He added:

Many people want this Synod to give an immediate Yes or No on various issues! But that is not how the Church advances into the deep mystery of the Divine Love. We must not run away from the difficult questions, like the disciples, who say Shut her up! We dwell with these questions in the silence of prayer and mutual listening. We listen, as someone said, not so as to reply but so as to learn. We stretch open our imagination to new ways of being the household of God which has room for everyone. Otherwise, as we say in England, we shall just be rearranging the desk chairs on the Titanic.

Despite the hostile reception of the disciples, the woman stays. She does not give up and go away. Please stay, whatever your frustrations with the Church. Go on questioning! Together we shall discover the Lord’s will.

Press briefing: new guidelines to encourage creativity

With the exception of the texts of the spiritual assistants and leading synod officials, the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, has imposed tight secrecy on synod participants (Regulations, Article 24), binding them to confidentiality, even with respect to their own contributions, and even after the session concludes. The regulations stand in marked contrast to the relative transparency of the Synod of Bishops under St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, during which the Vatican routinely published the synod fathers’ interventions (speeches).

The daily press briefing thus offers an impressionistic, if filtered, glimpse into the synod’s proceedings.

The principal presenters at the day’s briefing were

• Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and chair of the synod’s Commission for Information
• Sheila Leocádia Pires, communications officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and secretary of the synod’s Commission for Information

Ruffini announced that the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, issued new “methodological guidelines” to encourage greater creativity—but consistent with the synod’s lack of transparency, the new guidelines have not been published. Vatican News, the agency of the Dicastery for Communication, reported:

Following instructions from the General Secretariat of the Synod, special rapporteur Father Giacomo Costa encouraged Synod participants to be creative, not to be afraid of “desborde”—the Spanish word for “overflowing” ... Additionally, Ruffini noted, some “methodological guidelines” were provided, including “encouragement for creativity and ‘overflowing.’” This word, Ruffini recalled, is used in Spanish as “desborde,” a word also used by the Pope in Querida Amazonia and during the 2019 Amazon Synod. The hope, Ruffini added, “is for there to be an increasing ‘overflow,’” rooted in restlessness and the wish to go forward.

Other presenters at the press conference then reflected on the synod session and ecumenism.

The ecumenical dimension is “one of the most relevant aspects of this Synod,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, who referred to “the exchange of gifts, in which we learn from one another, with the conviction that no Church is so rich that it does not need the contribution of other Churches, and no Church is so poor that it has nothing to offer.”

Three non-Catholic observers—Orthodox Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, Anglican Bishop Martin Warner, and Mennonite Pastor Anne-Cathy Graber, also offered their reflections.

“Even though we do not have voting rights as fraternal delegates, our voice and presence were welcomed just like everyone else’s,” said Graber. “The equal dignity of baptism is visible. There is no powerful Church dominating from above. We are all a people walking together and seeking.”

Earlier coverage

• Synod retreat, day 1: ‘Stripping ourselves before the other and before God’ (CWN, 10/1)
• Synod retreat touches on homosexuality, ‘new ministries’; culminates in penitential vigil (CWN, 10/2)
• Opening Synod session, Pope stresses listening (CWN, 10/2)
• Synod, October 2: Pope defends inclusion of non-bishops; Cardinal Fernández: ‘no’ to women deacons (CWN, 10/3)
• Synod, October 3: Working groups discuss ‘Foundations’; ‘nothing new,’ says Cardinal Hollerich (CWN, 10/4)
• Cardinal Grech: Every Catholic is invited to weigh in on synod study groups’ deliberations (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod study group calls for ‘paradigm shift’ on controversial moral issues (CWN, 10/4)
• African bishops preparing document on polygamy (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod, October 4: leading African cardinal criticized for inadequate consultation in rejecting same-sex blessings (CWN, 10/5)
• Synod, October 5: work on ‘Foundations’ concludes; Lebanese, Haitian prelates recount suffering (CWN, 10/7)
• No synod meetings on Sunday, October 6
• Synod, October 7: Cardinal Hollerich calls for suggestions to make Church less ‘pyramidal’; women’s ministry discussion resurfaces (CWN, 10/8)
• Jesuits hold outsized influence at Synod on Synodality (CWN, 10/8)
• Synod, October 8: final document commission members chosen; leading Latin American prelate raises prospect of married priests (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod names commission to prepare final document (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod, October 9: Cardinal Fernández invites synod participants to weigh in on forthcoming document on women and ministry (CWN, 10//10)

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---