By MAIKE HICKSON
The first working day of the Synod on the Family, October 5, started things off with a good and hopeful tone. But that was soon to change.
Positively, the general relator of the synod, Peter Cardinal Erdo, gave his introductory speech in which it became clear that the heterodox parts of last year’s synod — the ones about giving Holy Communion to adulterers and the ones about seeing positive elements in homosexual relationships — were rejected by the synod fathers and, therefore, were not up for further discussion.
He said, for example: “Regarding the divorced-and-civilly-remarried, a merciful, pastoral accompaniment is only right — an accompaniment, however, which leaves no doubt about the truth of the indissolubility of marriage taught by Jesus Christ Himself. The mercy of God offers to sinners pardon, but demands conversion….It is therefore not the failure of the first marriage, but cohabiting in the second relationship that impedes access to the Eucharist.”
Erdo gave a traditional and solid presentation of our Lord’s teaching on marriage and the family and thereby also countered his own involuntary participation in the scandalous midterm report of the 2014 synod where the heterodox statements were somehow slipped in, without his knowledge or approval.
Unexpectedly, however, Pope Francis spoke up on Tuesday, October 6, in order to insist that the discussions are to be and to remain open. He said that his own two speeches at the 2014 Synod, as well as the 2014 final report, constitute the official documents of that synod.
That means that the three heterodox paragraphs (on “remarried” divorcees and on homosexual couples) mentioned above, which the Pope insisted be retained in the final 2014 report, are now declared an official part of that last synod’s work, in spite of the fact that the Synod Fathers had then largely rejected them!
Pope Francis also said, according to a Catholic News Agency report, that “this synod must be lived in continuity with last year’s extraordinary synod.”
Fr. John T. Zuhlsdorf commented on this move on his blog wdtprs.com as follows: “First, since His Holiness stomped on Cardinal Erdo, the general relator, for his opening speech and then stomped, or at least kicked a little, Cardinal Pell for his suggestions about the writing committee, then I suppose that Pope Francis now ‘owns’ this synod. Whatever the results, they are his.” (See last week’s News Notes column in The Wanderer.)
As Philip Lawler reported on CatholicCulture.org, the commission which has been set up to write the final report of the 2015 synod has ten members, seven of which are synod fathers who were personally appointed by Pope Francis and who are not the chosen representatives of the various national bishops conferences.
There was more to the Pope’s surprise intervention on October 6. He also warned against a “hermeneutics of conspiracy” characterizing it also as “sociologically weak and spiritually unhelpful.”
With this assertion, he appeared to counter the arguments brought up by many — and especially by 13 cardinals, as I will later recount — that the synod was once again being manipulated; but he did it without his entering into the presented detailed argumentation as to why many observers have believed this to be clearly the case.
The Pope also stated on October 6 that “Catholic doctrine on marriage has not been touched, no one called it into question in this assembly or in the Extraordinary Assembly [the 2014 synod]. It has been preserved in its integrity.”
But this ignores all the faithful cardinals and bishops — cardinals such as Raymond Burke, Gerhard Mueller, Robert Sarah, Walter Brandmueller, Carlo Caffarra, and Bishop Athanasius Schneider — who wrote books or essays and gave frank interviews in order to resist the various attacks on Catholic doctrine at the 2014 synod.
Notably, however, as this synod has not yet ended, nothing final has happened in it regarding doctrine, though fears are widespread.
Edward Pentin, Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Register, reported October 8 that any paragraph of the Instrumentum Laboris that the synod fathers now would hope to amend or to change can only be altered or entirely rejected with a two-thirds majority!
Pentin concludes: “This means that controversial paragraphs in the document — such as the Cardinal Kasper proposal that failed to achieve a two-thirds majority at the end of the last synod — appear to now require a two-thirds majority vote to amend them.
“ ‘The burden of proof now is on the side that wants to amend them,’ said a synod official. ‘So bishops are now trying to clarify that three controversial paragraphs that did not get the two-thirds majority now require a two-thirds majority just to change them’.”
Another very troubling revelation about the ongoing synod involves a letter to Pope Francis written by 13 synod fathers and expressing concern about processes at the synod and some parts of the Instrumentum Laboris. Vatican analyst Sandra Magister first wrote about this development and published the letter on October 12.
The names and the number of the signers and the contents of the letter have been a source of rumors and controversy. That the letter exists is not under dispute, however.
LifeSiteNews reported as follows on October 12:
America Magazine stated that it has confirmed with reliable sources that 13 cardinals did in fact sign the letter, although the list is somewhat different from the original list reported by Magister.
Also, a spokesperson for George Cardinal Pell issued a statement saying that “a private letter should remain private,” and added that “there are errors in both the content and the list of signatories.” However, he confirmed that “concerns remain among many of the synod fathers about the composition of the drafting committee of the final relatio and about the process by which it will be presented to the synod fathers and voted upon.”
And, reported LifeSiteNews, at least four of the 13 named cardinals denied signing it.
Wilfrid Cardinal Napier of South Africa of South Africa acknowledged in an interview with Crux having signed a letter, but said the content of the letter was somewhat different than what was first reported by Sandro Magister.
Magister’s now disputed text of the cardinals’ letter says that the Instrumentum Laboris “has sections that would benefit from substantial reflection and reworking.” Those cardinals see that the new procedures of this synod “seem to guarantee it excessive influence on the synod’s deliberations and on the final synodal document.” And they conclude that this document “cannot adequately serve as a guiding text or the foundation of a final document.”
Further confusion was caused when, at the end of the first week, it was announced by different speakers — among them Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ — that there might not be a final report, after all! Fr. Lombardi said on October 10 that “we do not yet have certainty on how the conclusion of the synod will take place, meaning if there will or will not be a final document. We will see if the Pope gives precise indications.”
It appears at this point, however, that there will be a final report.
Vatican analyst Andrea Gagliarducci on October 10 published an article in which he revealed yet another troubling development. He said:
“And there is also the growing suspicion that a restricted group within the 10-member commission currently drafting the [final] message — that is, the group closest to the Pope — has already prepared a first draft of the eventual final report. Time is the main evidence behind this suspicion. The last group of reports on the third part of the Working Document [Instrumentum Laboris] will be given between the Thursday and Friday of the last week of the synod (October 22-23), while the final report will be presented on Saturday (October 24).
“Time is too tight for a commission of 10 to draft a really original final report, unless there is a draft already written, or they simply submit as the final report the Working Document with a few amendments. Both choices would leave people unhappy.”
The well-respected German Catholic newspaper, Die Tagespost, reported on October 13, people are insecure about the outcome of the synod because “in the guesthouse of the Vatican, Santa Marta, there takes place a kind of ‘Shadow Synod’: Pope Francis meets with participants of the synod and with external visitors in order to speak with them individually.”
It is still a riddle, according to this source, how the Pope finally will settle the open questions.
The Good Fight
At the same time, while these disturbing reports still reach us, some courageous and faithful Catholic lay organizations, journalists, and news services loyally fight the good fight in Rome. The coalition of pro-life and pro-family organizations, called The Voice of the Family, continuously publishes articles full of warnings and descriptions, for example about a bishop lining up with LGBT groups or about the fact that the first week of work at the synod essentially did not bring up any of the most dangerous threats to family and life, such as contraception, gender theory, homosexual unions, and feminism.
The Voice of the Family concludes: “The family is under attack. This week’s events at the synod have signaled to the enemies of the family that the time is ripe for them to intensify their assault.”
And LifeSiteNews reported about Fr. Nicholas Gregoris, who writes on the synod for Catholic World Report, who had his press credentials revoked because he challenged some questionable statements made by Archbishop Paul-André Durocher from Canada.
LifeSiteNews further reported about Fr. Thomas Rosica, the English-language assistant to the Holy See Press Office, who only a few years ago publicly praised and honored on television the former priest (now married) and defender of homosexuality, Gregory Baum, saying: “I’ve certainly admired very much your [Baum’s] theology, your writings but also your love of the Church.”
Vatican experts such as Edward Pentin, Sandro Magister, Marco Tosatti, and others are trying to uncover the truth about the synod. A synod which seems to be full of confusion, exclusions, and indignation!
Please pray for all those at the front — cardinals, bishops, journalists, laymen, organizations — and give them moral and intellectual support wherever possible.
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