The first session of the Synod Assembly concludes. "A joy that could be touched".Does the Synod want to change doctrine?The second session of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be as followsThe appearance this Friday of some members of the Synod in the Vatican Press Room could not avoid, although with less insistence than on other days, some questions that urged the Synod Fathers to accelerate in some way "the times of the Church", in particular on some topics.
In recent days something similar happened, to the point of provoking a measured, live reaction from the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini.
Today we have closely followed the war in Sudan and the social and political problems in South Sudan, by Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Mulla; the option of dialogue presented by the Archbishop of Bogota, Cardinal Luis J. Rueda, and the call for a Synod on the Mediterranean by the Archbishop of Marseille, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline.
Luis Marín, undersecretary of the Synod, said that "the Synod is a response to these challenges of the world" and defined four characteristics for today's Church: Christocentric, fraternal, inclusive and dynamic". He also conveyed "hope" and the desire to "avoid pessimism" in today's Church.
A Synod for the Mediterranean
Yesterday and this morning, the official Vatican agency and some media had highlighted, in fact, as a newsworthy topic of the work, the proposal for a Mediterranean ecclesial Assembly - not Euro-Mediterranean - to listen to migrants, an issue expanded today by the Cardinal of Marseille, who said that "the Mediterranean also deserves a Synod".
The theme is of great importance, from the geopolitical point of view; of networks to help migrants reach the other shore; theological, to make a theology at the service of the People of God; and also from the approach of the Marian shrines of the Mediterranean, added the French cardinal, who summarized that we are "facing a sea with five shores that touches three continents".
Regulatory capacity, time and study
But in addition to the specific questions, which are of course important, there is the other question, which refers more to the "normative capacity" of the Synod, entitled "How to be a synodal Church in mission", as the Pope indicated to the Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General.
Some journalists who regularly attend these appearances have commented that "the common thread of the speakers in these briefings is that time is needed to reach and make decisions", or that "one is the time of society, and another is the time that the Church reserves for itself".
This issue of the Church's times is important, even more so when topics are raised, usually by journalists attending the briefings (late morning summaries), concerning, for example, the hypothetical ordination of the so-called 'viri probati', or above all the preaching or the diaconate of women.
Paolo Ruffini: talks phase
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, responded this week, for example, referring to the idea of a ministry or service of Listening, but that it would be useful for all topics, that the roundtable synthesizes some "interventions, people who have spoken, we are in a phase, as has already been said, in which we are talking, there are moments of pause, of reflection, we give them an idea of what we are doing. Then, how to concretize it .... The Church is composed of the People of God, of the baptized, then there are the ministries... I try to give them a synthesis, to transmit a general idea. I am sure that others can add something more.
Synod: consultative nature
After the sessions of these days, it has become clear, in case it was not clear enough, that this XVI Assembly, in the October session of last year and this year's, has "a consultative and not a deliberative character", and even less a decision-making one, and this is known to journalists, according to Paolo Ruffini.
This was underlined by the General Secretariat of the Synod in July of this year, during the presentation of the working document, entitled Instrumentum Laboris (hereinafter IL), and this was underlined yesterday by several synod speakers.
This was mentioned in various ways by two cardinals, one of them from the C9, the Council who directly advises the Pope.
Cardinal Bo: "The Pope has not made decisions".
Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon (Myanmar), President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (F.A.B.C.) and member of the Ordinary Council, made a brief assessment of the effects of the synodal process in Asia, which coincided in part with the Pope's recent trip to the continent.
At the end, following a question regarding the issues referred to above, and others, such as whether or not to open meetings between Assembly members and study groups to journalists, he stated that it was "his eighth synod", and that "this synod is very different from previous ones. because it is a process integrated into the life of the Church, and in every diocese a diocesan synod should be held on the basis of the fruits that we will reap at the end of this Synod on synodality".
Cardinal Bo, responding to another question, stated that "what you have said (referring to a journalist), these are things on which the Pope has not yet made a final decision. The groups are working on those issues. In 2025 there will be reports that the groups will publish on these specific issues."
For his part, Cardinal Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec (Canada), said he could not answer the question about where the Synod fathers and mothers are at the moment, but "I can say where I am. I think I have walked. This experience opens a space where God can find something new. I leave here with something new, I am not the same as before, I have a different view on certain issues after listening to others".
"Today's world needs to listen," said the Cardinal LacroixWe needed to discover this faculty, especially "to listen better to those who are different from us," in a world, he said, in which "only weapons and bombing are used as solutions to problems.
External emails
Another point of pressing is found in e-mails received by synod fathers and mothers. A U.S. media outlet has reported a invitation The Synod delegates were invited to join a forum of a network of Latin American Catholics called "progressives", entitled "Called to be a woman deacon".
The mailing took place on October 15 and it was reported that a group of women were going to share why they are convinced that they are called to sacramentally ordained ministry.
The Final Document
Next week, the final document of the Synod will be drafted and voted on, which some media have asked about, and which the general secretariat will send to Pope Francis.
According to Paolo Ruffini, the four ex officio members, who will gather the proposals of the Synodal Assembly and will write The authors of the document are Cardinals Grech and Hollerich, and Special Secretaries Battochio and Costa.
Of the remaining ten with supervisory mission, three have been appointed by the Pope (Prof. Bonfrate, Gregorian University; Cardinal Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Damao (India), and Sr. Leticia Salazar, San Bernardino, USA. And seven by geographical zones: Card. Ambongo, of Kinshasa; Card. Rueda, Bogotá; Catherine Clifford (U. S. Paul, Ottawa); Fr. Davedassan, Malaysia; Card. Aveline, Marseille (France); Bishop Khairallah of Lebanon; and Bishop McKinlay of Oceania.
