The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality

Churches of the West: The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality: 

The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality

October 4, 2023

The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality begins today.

The first phase was to gather information at the pew level.  Only something like 3% of Catholics responded to that.  That information was to be taken in, refined, and developed in diocesan, national, and continental stages. 

Those have all occured.

The third phase is split into two parts, the first part starting today, October 4, 2023, at the Vatican.  It will run until October 29.  The second part will be in October 2024. The third phase is to advise the Pope on the topic “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.”

The first part, of the third phase, has the objective to design a plan of study in a “synodal style” and to indicate who will be involved in those discussions.

An Instrumentum Laboris has been issued for this part. Such documents are not unique to this, but are generally issued for synods.  It is available online.  I thought about trying to post it here, but it's just too big to do so.  However, it's not too big to scan through.

I have done so, and I'll frankly say I’m not impressed.  It does recall, however, in a way one of the results of Vatican II which was to attempt to bring the laity more into the Mass, which did in fact follow Vatican II.  I've heard this called an attempt to carry out that aspect of Vatican II.  Having said that, I think something that's missed is that the overwhelming majority of laity of the largest Christian religion in the world spends most of their days trying to get through the day, rather than planning on answering surveys and the like.  Indeed, as earlier noted, people who have time to do that may not always be the people who are really the most likely to represent the real views and concerns of the laity.

None of this is, I'd note, the attitude that I should have.  At age 60, however, I'm jaded on big meetings that require volunteer participation of this type, or for which the participants are selected.  Fr. James Martin, S.J. has been selected as a member and I'd definitely not include him.

Martin is one of only 24 Americans selected for this group.  Our former Bishop Etienne is one who was selected and I would choose him.  University of Wyoming student music student Wyatt Olivas is one chosen, and I don't know anything about him other than he's presented as a youthful Hispanic.  I can't judge him, but does he represent the youthful Hispanics in our local parish who are actually from Mexico?  Based on photographs of him sitting in shorts in the mountains with a pride wrist band, probably not.

What about the youthful trads and rad trads I see at Mass on Sunday morning, such as the young woman, in her early 20s, who always wears a veil?

Catholics should pray for the success of the synod.  But we should also recall that success is not under our own terms.  I'd regard (and I'm certain not claiming that everyone should also hold this view) that if the synod just basically went away, that this was a success.  A synod that doesn't leave murky "this, but that" results damaging orthodoxy would also be a success in my view.  A synod in which the Eastern Rite, of which I'm not a part, took a large, even a lion's share, would be a success in my view.

May God grant the Synod a success on God's terms.

October 5, 2023

Cardinal Zen has written a letter to Bishops attending the Synod.  It states:

Dear Eminence, Dear Excellency,

          I am your confrere Joseph Zen from the far-off island of Hong Kong, a 91-year old man, ordained bishop more than 26 years ago. I write this letter because, conscious of being still in possession of my mental faculties, I feel duty-bound to safeguard, as a member of the College of Successors of the Apostles, the sacred tradition of Catholic faith.

          I address this letter to you, members of the…Synod on Synodality, supposing that you are as worried as I am about the outcome of this Synod.

          Synodality is a rather new term; from its etymology we can understand that it is a matter of a certain spirit, of “conversing together and walking together;” for the Catholic Church this term means “communion and participation of all the members of the Church in the mission of evangelization.” Understood in this way, the theme of this Synod appears to be useful and ever actual. The Synod will offer the opportunity to clarify how we must live synodality in the Church.

          Now there is a very recent document entitled “Synodality in the life and mission of the Church.” It is the fruit of the labors (in the years 2014-2017) of a sub-­commission of the International Theological Commission, whose ex-officio chairman is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The sub-commission completed its work in 2017; the text was approved by the Commission in its plenary session of that year and was finally signed by the Prefect of the Congregation in 2018, with the favorable assent of Pope Francis.

          This document, in its first part, begins with the historical facts of Synods and Councils (the· meaning of the two terms is convergent), in particular the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), the paradigmatic figure of the Synods celebrated by the Church.

          The description of that Synod in paragraphs 20-21 of that document can be summarized as follows – In the spreading of the Gospel, a problem emerges: whether non-Hebrews, to become members of the Church of Jesus, should pass or not through the circumcision and the acceptance of the Law of Moses. The problem, acutely felt in Antioch, is referred to the Church in Jerusalem, which in its totality takes part in the development of the Council to solve the problem. “The initial diversity of opinions and the lively discussion, in the light of the prophetic word (see Amos 9:11-12), in the reciprocal listening to the Holy Spirit through the witness to his work (see Acts 15:14- 18), reached that consensus and unanimity which is the fruit of community discernment.” The Apostles and the Elders communicated the conclusions of the Council to the Churches with a letter in which it is said: “The Holy Spirit and we have decided.”

          In paragraph 5 of the Commission’s document, it is said: “The novelty of the term ‘synodality’ demands a careful assessment of its theological significance.” In paragraph 7, it is said: “While the concept of synodality points to the participation of the whole people of God, […] the concept of collegiality expresses with precision the theological significance and the form of exercise of the ministry of bishops […] through the hierarchical communion of the episcopal college with the bishop of Rome.” A little later it says: “Every authentic manifestation of synodality by its very nature demands the exercise of the collegial ministry of bishops.”

          In its second part, the document proposes the theological foundations of this doctrine which are found especially in Lumen Gentium, where Vatican II specifies that, at the service of the people of God, in which all are priests and prophets, there is an ordained, ministerial priesthood, that serves the people of God, guiding it with the service of authority.

          I have been not a little surprised when, reading the wordy documents emanating from the Synod Secretariat, I have found very few references to the above-mentioned document.

          But there is more:

          1. I am confounded by the fact that, on the one hand, I am told that synodality is a constitutive element of the Church, but, on the other hand, I am told that this is what God expects from us for this century (as a novelty?). How can God have forgotten to make his Church live out this constitutive element in the twenty centuries of her existence? Do we not confess that the Church is one, holy, catholic, apostolic, intending by this that she has also been all along synodal?

          2. Even greater confusion and worry I feel when I see the suggestion being made that finally the day has come to overturn the pyramid, that is, with the hierarchy

surmounted by the lay people. In the Preparatory Document, from the very beginning, it is said clearly that, for a synodal Church, it is necessary to re-establish democracy.

          3. Worry to worry is added for me when I note that, while this Synod (presented as a thing without precedents) was being convoked, there was already under way in Germany the so-called “synodal path” in which, with a strangely complacent mea culpa for sexual abuses in the Church, the hierarchy and a group of lay people (Central Committee of German Catholics [ZdK], it is not clear how representative it is, but we come to know that most of the group are Church employees) propose a revolutionary change in the constitution of the Church and in the moral teaching about sexuality. More than a hundred Cardinals and Bishops from all over the world have written a letter of admonishment to the German bishops, but the latter have not acknowledged their error.

          The Pope has never ordered that this process of the Church in Germany to stop. On the occasion of their visit ad limina, it is known that the Pope dialogued for two hours with the German bishops, but the speech of the Pope, normally published in L’Osservatore Romano…was not published. Instead, L’Osservatore Romano published the speech of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who asked the German bishops not to proceed with their synodal path, but to wait, instead, for the conclusions of the Synod on Synodality. A clear refusal was what he received, “because”, they said, “it is pastorally urgent to proceed”(!?).

          An alarming symptom is the ongoing numerical decrease of Catholic faithful in Germany. According to official data, the decrease has been of more than half a million in 2022. The Church in Germany is dying.

          This reminds us of the painful misadventure of the Church in the Netherlands. From the peak of constituting…40% of national population, today she has fallen to an almost complete disappearance. It is not difficult to see the cause of this: a movement, almost identical to the one in act in today’s Germany, that in Holland began almost immediately after Vatican II.

          I think it is not out of place to mention here the great schism that is threatening the Anglican Communion. The archbishops of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) have written a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, telling him that, unless he converts (the Church of England has approved homosexual marriage), they (who constitute…85% of all the Anglicans in the world) will no longer accept his leadership (as primus inter pares).

          4. The documents of the Synod Secretariat quote the Gospel, but not always to the point. They speak at length of the episode of Peter and Cornelius (in Acts 10-11), as if this proved that the Lord can order any kind of change in the behavior of the faithful. But the narrative of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) shows that the change involved is not any change whatever. It is a development that implies different phases in the realization of salvation. The universalist phase of salvation, already prefigured in the Old Testament, is now finally realized after the resurrection of Jesus. In a similar vein, Jesus says that he has come not to abolish the Law, but to bring it to fulfillment. The Holy Spirit proceeds gradually, but never falls into self-contradiction. St. [John] Henry Newman used to say that the true development of doctrine is homogeneous.

          I think that I need not say anything more on the reasons why you should face your Synod work with deep worry. I feel, instead, the importance of bringing to your notice certain problems of procedure of the Synod. The Synod Secretariat is very efficient at the art of manipulation.

          Because of what I am going to say, I can be easily accused of “conspiracy theory”, but I see clearly a whole plan of manipulation.

          They begin by saying that we must listen to all. Little by little they make us understand that among these “all” there are especially those whom we have “excluded.” Finally, we understand that what they mean are people who opt for a sexual morality different from that of Catholic tradition.

          In the small groups of dialogue of the continental phase, they often insist that “we must leave empty a chair for those who are absent, who have been emarginated by us.”  They also say: “The Synod must conclude with a universal inclusion, must enlarge the tent, all welcome, without judging them, without inviting them to conversion.”

          Often they claim not to have any agenda. This is truly an offense to our intelligence. Anybody can see which conclusions they are aiming at.

          They speak of “conversation in the Spirit” as if it were a magical formula. And they invite all to expect “surprises” from the Spirit (evidently they are already informed which surprises to expect). “Conversation, no discussion! Discussions create divisions!” Does this mean that consensus and unanimity happen miraculously? It seems to me that at Vatican II, before reaching an almost unanimous conclusion, they devoted a lot of time to spirited discussions. It was there that the Holy Spirit worked. To avoid discussions is to avoid the truth.

          You must not obey them, when they tell you to go and pray, interrupting the sessions of the Synod. Tell them that it is ridiculous to think that the Holy Spirit is waiting for these your prayers offered at the last moment. Before the Synod, you and your faithful must already have accumulated a mountain of prayers, as Pope John XXIII did before Vatican II, making pilgrimages to various churches, praying for the Council.

          During the Synod, the Holy Spirit will be busy working in your hearts, hoping that you all accept his inspirations.

          “Let us begin“, they say, “with small groups.” This way of proceeding is clearly wrong. What is needed is, first, to let all speak and to let all hear in the Assembly. In this way, the most controversial problems emerge, problems in need of an adequate discussion.

          In the small “language groups,” then, it is possible, using one’s own language, to deeply probe into the problems at ease, concluding with the formulation of concise deliberations. We should insist on the procedure followed in so many Synods, not because “it has always been like that,” but because it is the reasonable thing to do (to want to proceed differently justifies the suspicion that what is wanted is to avoid the discovery of the true inspiration of the Holy Spirit).

          On the Internet I see a lot of talk about “yes to voting, no to voting.” But if no vote is taken, how can one know the fruit of so much dialogue? To avoid voting is also to avoid truth.

          The voting. Without any consultation, in the proximity of the beginning of the Synod, the Holy Father adds a number of lay members with right of voting. If I were one of the members of the Synod, I would place a strong protest, because this decision radically changes the nature of the Synod, which Pope Paul VI had intended as an instrument of episcopal collegiality, even if, in the spirit of synodality, lay observers were admitted with the possibility to speak out. To you I do not suggest a protest, but at least a sweet lament with a request: that at least the votes of the Bishops and the votes of the lay people be counted separately (this has been granted to the bishops even by the “synodal path” of Germany). To give the vote to lay people could appear to mean that respect is shown for the sensus fidelium, but are they sure that these lay people who have been invited are fideles? That these lay people at least still go to church? As a matter of fact, these lay people have not been elected by the Christian people.

          There has been no explanation at all for the addition (halfway through) of another synodal session for 2024. My malicious suspicion is that the organizers, not sure to be able to reach during this session their goals, are opting for more time to maneuver. But, if what the Holy Spirit has wanted to say is clarified through the voting of the bishops, what is the need of another session?

          ….Old as I am, I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. I will be happy to have done what I feel is my duty to do.

          I am aware that in the Synod on the Family, the Holy Father rejected suggestions presented by several Cardinals and Bishops precisely regarding the procedure. If you, however, respectfully present a petition supported by numerous signatories, perhaps this will be accepted. In any case, you will have done your duty. To accept an unreasonable procedure is to condemn the Synod to failure.

          …..I wish you a fruitful and, if necessary, courageous participation to this Synod that, in any case, will be without precedents.

I am, your humble brother,

+ Joseph Zen

October 6, 2023

On October 3 critics of the Synod, including Cardinal Burke, spoke at a conference in Rome.

Prior Threads:

Squaring off. Five Cardinals, the Pope, and the Synod on Synodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Difficult burdens. More on the Synod On Syodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Ezekiel and the Synod on Synodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Dread and the Synod on Synodality.

Really Missing The Point

Annaba, Algeria, late 19th Century.  Why?  Well, read below.

We must be clear that the modernization of the Church on the great anthropological questions comes through Europe. In the West, there is greater sensitivity towards certain issues such as gender or homosexuality than in Asia or Africa. Although in Europe and the United States the Church is in decline, paradoxically the young Churches that are growing in Asia or Africa are the most conservative. Western societies are moving towards a new idea of mankind, and that game is undoubtedly being played in Europe, which is why there are so many European cardinals in this consistory

Piero Schiavazzi, professor of Vatican Geopolitics at Link University in Rome.

Wow, talk about missing the point.

I don't know why the Pope picks the Cardinals that he does, but if this is the reason, it shows a real misappreciation of the evidence.

The church is on the rise in Asia and Africa, where the parishioners are conservative.

It's in decline in Europe, although that decline tends to be misunderstood and to some degree exaggerated, where contemplating "anthropological questions" is the rage.  It really isn't in decline in the US in the way that's asserted, as overall numbers remain steady, but partially due to immigration.  And not noted by Signore Schiavazzi, conservatism is on the rise in younger American Catholics.

Indeed, also in the West, a recent survey showed that amongst Australian Catholic women, younger women were noticeably more conservative than older ones. 

So appoint European Cardinals who are sensitive to the issues where the Church is failing?

Eh?

The old maxim is that nothing succeeds like success, to which we must presume that nothing fails like failure.

All over the globe, and not just in religion, the older generations that advanced the liberalism of the 70s, 80s, and 90s continue to remain in power in significant ways and don't seem to grasp that the failed legacy of that is not something that younger generations, heavily impacted by it, wish to advance further.

The impact of Cardinal appointments is much like that of Supreme Court Justices.  It's difficult to tell what they'll really do and even more difficult to tell what a Pope will do at first.  But if Signore Schiavazzi is correct, this is a bad sign.  Once again, the Papacy will not make major doctrinal changes, because it cannot, but there have been historic periods of Church failure (some involving laxity) that resulted in large departures from the Church.  History, we're told, doesn't repeat, but it rhymes.  A sort of small Counter Reformation of sorts is going on amongst the young, while at higher levels the necessity for that seems to be not only not appreciated, but perhaps not even grasped.

Also not grasped, seemingly, anywhere in the West is that the colonial era is over.  We apparently have never understood that wind the "winds of change" swept colonial powers out of Africa and Asia, it also swept the cultural balance of the world.

Europe's impact on the world was enormous culturally.  Indeed, it triumphed. But that culture was a Christian one, no matter how poorly grasped that was and no matter how poorly expressed.  Much of what we take for granted, indeed liberalism itself, about "modern culture" is Christian, and pretty much exclusively Christian, in origin.  It's no accident that cultural decay has set in, in the West, as the Christian roots have is culture have been strained by a long competing culture, that of consumerism, of which both advanced consumer society and socialism are expressions.

St. Augustine.  He was a Berber.

But Christianity itself, at least Apostolic Christianity in the form of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, has never been a European thing.  Indeed, the fundamental event of European culture was the spread of (Apostolic/Catholic) Christianity within it, which forever changed it. But Christianity didn't come out of Europe, and indeed it took the rise of Islam to cause there to be a temporary hiatus in it having a major African expression.  St. Augustine of Hippo was a Berber, not a European, and the Bishop of Hippo Regius, which is modern Annaba, Algeria.

Of course, all of the Apostles were Jews from the Middle East. The first Pope, Peter, was from modern Israel. St. Paul, who dealt with what Signore Schiavazzi calls a "new idea of mankind", as there are no new ideas really, and dismissed the conduct that we now are re contemplating as, well whatever we're re contemplating, was from Tarsus, in what is modern Turkey and which was then part of the Greco Roman world. Pope Victor I, who died in 199, was a Berber. Pope Miltiades was also a North African, as was Pope Gelasius (who was for strict Catholic orthodoxy). Pope Saint Anicetus was a Syrian as was Pope Sisinnius, Pope Constantine, and Pope Gregory III.

What ended the strong influence of North Africa, of course, was the Islamic conquest of the region, although remnant North African Catholic churches held on until the early 1400s.  Even as Christianity has spread around the world, and conquered almost all of non Arab and non Berber Africa, it's been easy to forget that its not a Eurpean religion.

That mistaken impression is about to end, and it can't end soon enough.  Trying to somehow assume that decaying European culture needs to be accommodated, if that's occurring, is a mistake.  It needs to be reformed, and it will be, and a rising Africa and Asia will be part of that.

Tuesday, October 5, 1943. OSS Coup Plots

For the first time since a failed attempt in 1943, U.S. aircraft bomb Wake Island.  Surface vessels also shelled the island.

In an example of the rogue nature of the OSS, Theodore Morde, of the Reader's Digest, at the request of OSS head William J. Donovan, met with the German Ambassador to Turkey Franz von Papen to encourage the latter to attempt a coup against Hitler.  Roosevelt was not informed of the effort.

The Washington Homestead Grays won the 1943 Negro World Series, beating the Birmingham Black Barons.

Monday, October 4, 1943. Monstrous

Himmler delivered the first of his Posen speeches to SS officers and German administrators, in which he stated, in part:

I also want to speak to you here, in complete frankness, of a really grave chapter. Amongst ourselves, for once, it shall be said quite openly, but all the same we will never speak about it in public. Just as we did not hesitate on June 30, 1934, to do our duty as we were ordered, and to stand comrades who had erred against the wall and shoot them, and we never spoke about it and we never will speak about it. It was a matter of natural tact that is alive in us, thank God, that we never talked about it amongst ourselves, that we never discussed it. Each of us shuddered and yet each of us knew clearly that the next time he would do it again if it were an order, and if it were necessary. I am referring here to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people. This is one of the things that is easily said: "The Jewish people are going to be exterminated," that's what every Party member says, "sure, it's in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination - it'll be done." And then they all come along, the 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his one decent Jew. Of course, the others are swine, but this one, he is a firstrate Jew. Of all those who talk like that, not one has seen it happen, not one has had to go through with it. Most of you men know what it is like to see 100 corpses side by side, or 500 or 1,000. To have stood fast through this - and except for cases of human weakness - to have stayed decent, that has made us hard. This is an unwritten and never-to-be-written page of glory in our history, for we know how difficult it would be for us if today - under bombing raids and the hardships and deprivations of war - if we were still to have the Jews in every city as secret saboteurs, agitators, and inciters. If the Jews were still lodged in the body of the German nation, we would probably by now have reached the stage of 1916-17. 

The wealth they possessed we took from them. I gave a strict order, which has been carried out by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl, that this wealth will of course be turned over to the Reich in its entirety. We have taken none of it for ourselves. Individuals who have erred will be punished in accordance with the order given by me at the start, threatening that anyone who takes as much as a single Mark of this money is a dead man. A number of SS men - they are not very - many committed this offense, and they shall die. There will be no mercy. We had the moral right, we had the duty towards our people, to destroy this people that wanted to destroy us. But we do not have the right to enrich ourselves by so much as a fur, as a watch, by one Mark or a cigarette or anything else. We do not want, in the end, because we destroyed a bacillus, to be infected by this bacillus and to die. I will never stand by and watch while even a small rotten spot develops or takes hold. Wherever it may form we will together burn it away. All in all, however, we can say that we have carried out this most difficult of tasks in a spirit of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm to our inner being, our soul, our character.... 

He also stated:

What happens to the Russians, what happens to the Czechs, is a matter of utter indifference to me, Such good blood of our own kind as there may be among the nations we shall acquire for ourselves, if necessary by taking away the children and bringing them up among us. Whether the other races live in comfort or perish of hunger interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture. 

He went on to refer to these people as animals, noting how the Germans were, he claimed, the only people in the world to have a decent attitude towards animals.

These were words from a German leader, it might be noted, celebrating German murder.

The Germans took the Greek island of Kos, following which they killed 100 Italian officers, following orders from Hitler regarding Italian officers who had followed their government into action against the Germans.

Corsica was liberated from the Axis.

Australian commanders at Dampu.

The Australians prevailed in the Battle of Dampu.

Albanian resistance fighters prevailed in the Battle of Drashovica.

An RAF raid on Frankfurt hit a children's hospital's air raid shelder, resulting in 529 civilian deaths, of which 90 were children.

The U-279, U-389, U-422 and U-460 were all destroyed by aircraft in the Atlantic.

The U.S. Navy attacked German shipping at Bodø, Norway with aircraft from the USS Ranger in Operation Leader.  Five German ships were sunk, four damaged and two aircraft lost for a loss of four Navy aircraft.

Dauntless dive bomber in Opeation Leader.

The operation in far northern Norway was the U.S. Navy's only carrier assault on German targets during World War Two, outside of operations against submarines and in the Mediterranean.

Bing Crosby recorded I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Lex Anteinternet: The West. Was, No, he didn't.

In an age of relativism, orthodoxy is the only possible rebellion left.

Dr Peter Kreeft

Lex Anteinternet: No, he didn't.:  A headline: Pope Francis signals openness to Catholic Church blessing of same-sex unions. Marriage remains off table He didn't say that...

It's striking how much of the angst those of us in the West endure on a daily basis, in everything, is unique to us.

The Western world, that is.

The entire gender based who is attracted to whom, and gender confusion, is a Western, largely European (of which European Americans are part) thing.

We aren't the entire world.

And we're an eclipsing part of it.

In terms of religion, it's orthodoxy, not what we in the west are experiencing at some levels (but are on others), that's on the rise.  In Africa, the churches, Catholic and Protestant, are orthodox.  And in terms of Catholicism, on the rise.

Culturally, the entire self obsessed gender thing, well that's our deal too.

And economically, we're not once we once were, and will get less so.

And perhaps that's a good thing.

In the Catholic world, it's already the case that parishes are often served by orthodox African priests.  In the Anglican World, the conservatives look towards Africa as well.  As the generation that came of age in the 60s and 70s ages out, much of this will be much more evident.

As will the rise of cultural conservatism in younger generations.  Just the other day, a survey of Australian Catholic women revealed that younger women were more conservative and less willing to make changes in the Church than older ones. And while this may surprise, it's large the case that post Boomer generations are weary of the experimentation to a larger degree than might be suspected, where they aren't being ripped up by it in the secular world.

Blog Mirror: F.D. Flam: Don’t worry about global population collapse

 Intersting article making a point that I often have. The "collapsing population" causing an economic disaster is, well, bunk.

F.D. Flam: Don’t worry about global population collapse

No, he didn't.

 A headline:

Pope Francis signals openness to Catholic Church blessing of same-sex unions. Marriage remains off table

He didn't say that. What he indicated is an openness to pastoral care that might include some blessings of people in irregular relationships, without going very far into it.

It is, we should note, a very bad idea in our opinion, by a Pope who is causing a lot of dissention and frankly, in our view, by this point, damage that will take quite some time to repair, and which will get worse.  Part of the reason is his "on this hand, but on the other hand" speaking style.

We don't know as of yet where he is going, and if he is going in this direction, ultimately it will come undone, but not before a lot of damage is done, but . . . on this, we should consider. . . (Continued).

Churches of the West: Squaring off. Five Cardinals, the Pope, and the Synod on Synodality.

Churches of the West: Squaring off. Five Cardinals, the Pope, and the S...: 

Squaring off. Five Cardinals, the Pope, and the Synod on Synodality.

Synod on Synodality retreat looks to ‘transcend all our disagreements

So read a headline from the Catholic News Agency, regarding a pre Synod retreat.

That might be the intent, but right now, the Synod is amplifying them and leading a lot of traditional, conservative and I dare say run-of-the-mill Catholics to really suffer anxiety from what's occurring while their view of Pope Francis declines.

I'm in that camp.

I don't worry that the Pope is going to change doctrine, or that the Synod will, but I do worry that the result of this will be an effort to water it down by doing end runs around its application, thereby creating confusion.  That's already occurring, which is evident by Catholics who have determined that dedicated personal attractions to sin are not sinful, and that the Pope is set to take the torch to St. Paul and ratify their non-sinful status.¹   This in turn is likely to result in massive dissention within the Church, resisting the days of the Arian heresy and events of such nature.  Francis is not likely to go down, long term, as a Pope who is fondly remembered by future orthodox Catholics.  He's a strain on them now.

This week this came to a head with the publication of Dubia by its authors and a direct letter by those authors to the faithful. Cardinals Walter Cardinal Brandmüller, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Juan Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Cardinal Sarah and Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun have written to the faithful regarding their correspondence with the Pope. The letter comes in the form, essentially, of both notifying the faithful of what was said, but also in the form of a sort of warning that in their view the Pope's action stand to create confusion.

It was a bold thing to do.

Let's take a look at the correspondence.  First, their letter of October 2, 2023.

Notification to Christ’s Faithful (can. 212 § 3)

Regarding Dubia Submitted to Pope Francis

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We, members of the Sacred College of Cardinals, in accord with the duty of all the faithful “to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church” (can. 212 § 3) and, above all, in accord with the responsibility of Cardinals “to assist the Roman Pontiff … individually … especially in the daily care of the universal Church” (can. 349), in view of various declarations of highly-placed Prelates, pertaining to the celebration of the next Synod of Bishops, that are openly contrary to the constant doctrine and discipline of the Church, and that have generated and continue to generate great confusion and the falling into error among the faithful and other persons of good will, have manifested our deepest concern to the Roman Pontiff. By our letter of July 10, 2023, employing the proven practice of the submission of dubia [questions] to a superior to provide the superior the occasion to make clear, by his responsa [responses], the doctrine and discipline of the Church, we have submitted five dubia to Pope Francis, a copy of which is attached. By his letter of July 11, 2023, Pope Francis responded to our letter.

Having studied his letter which did not follow the practice of responsa ad dubia [responses to questions], we reformulated the dubia to elicit a clear response based on the perennial doctrine and discipline of the Church. By our letter of August 21, 2023, we submitted the reformulated dubia, a copy of which is attached, to the Roman Pontiff. Up to the present, we have not received a response to the reformulated dubia.

Given the gravity of the matter of the dubia, especially in view of the imminent session of the Synod of Bishops, we judge it our duty to inform you, the faithful (can. 212 § 3), so that you may not be subject to confusion, error, and discouragement but rather may pray for the universal Church and, in particular, the Roman Pontiff, that the Gospel may be taught ever more clearly and followed ever more faithfully.

                                   Yours in Christ,

           Walter Cardinal Brandmüller

           Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

           Juan Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez

           Robert Cardinal Sarah

           Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun

Rome, 2 October 2023

 The Dubia to which this refers, followed by the Pope's reply, is set out below.:

DUBIA

(Submitted July 10, 2023)

1 Dubium about the claim that we should reinterpret Divine Revelation according to the cultural and anthropological changes in vogue.

After the statements of some Bishops, which have been neither corrected nor retracted, it is asked whether in the Church Divine Revelation should be reinterpreted according to the cultural changes of our time and according to the new anthropological vision that these changes promote; or whether Divine Revelation is binding forever, immutable and therefore not to be contradicted, according to the dictum of the Second Vatican Council, that to God who reveals is due “the obedience of faith”(Dei Verbum 5); that what is revealed for the salvation of all must remain “in their entirety, throughout the ages” and alive, and be “transmitted to all generations” (7); and that the progress of understanding does not imply any change in the truth of things and words, because faith has been “handed on … once and for all” (8), and the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but teaches only what has been handed on (10).

2 Dubium about the claim that the widespread practice of the blessing of same-sex unions would be in accord with Revelation and the Magisterium (CCC 2357).

According to Divine Revelation, confirmed in Sacred Scripture, which the Church “at the divine command with the help of the Holy Spirit, … listens to devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully ” (Dei Verbum 10): “In the beginning” God created man in his own image, male and female he created them and blessed them, that they might be fruitful (cf. Gen. 1, 27-28), whereby the Apostle Paul teaches that to deny sexual difference is the consequence of the denial of the Creator (Rom 1, 24-32). It is asked: Can the Church derogate from this “principle,” considering it, contrary to what Veritatis Splendor 103 taught, as a mere ideal, and accepting as a “possible good” objectively sinful situations, such as same-sex unions, without betraying revealed doctrine?

3 Dubium about the assertion that synodality is a “constitutive element of the Church” (Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio 6), so that the Church would, by its very nature, be synodal.

Given that the Synod of Bishops does not represent the College of Bishops but is merely a consultative organ of the Pope, since the Bishops, as witnesses of the faith, cannot delegate their confession of the truth, it is asked whether synodality can be the supreme regulative criterion of the permanent government of the Church without distorting her constitutive order willed by her Founder, whereby the supreme and full authority of the Church is exercised both by the Pope by virtue of his office and by the College of Bishops together with its head the Roman Pontiff (Lumen Gentium 22). 

4 Dubium about pastors’ and theologians’ support for the theory that “the theology of the Church has changed” and therefore that priestly ordination can be conferred on women.

After the statements of some prelates, which have been neither corrected nor retracted, according to which, with Vatican II, the theology of the Church and the meaning of the Mass has changed, it is asked whether the dictum of the Second Vatican Council is still valid, that “[the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood] differ essentially and not only in degree” (Lumen Gentium 10) and that presbyters by virtue of the “sacred power of Order, that of offering sacrifice and forgiving sins” (Presbyterorum Ordinis 2), act in the name and in the person of Christ the Mediator, through Whom the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is made perfect. It is furthermore asked whether the teaching of St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, which teaches as a truth to be definitively held the impossibility of conferring priestly ordination on women, is still valid, so that this teaching is no longer subject to change nor to the free discussion of pastors or theologians.

5 Dubium about the statement “forgiveness is a human right” and the Holy Father’s insistence on the duty to absolve everyone and always, so that repentance would not be a necessary condition for sacramental absolution.

It is asked whether the teaching of the Council of Trent, according to which the contrition of the penitent, which consists in detesting the sin committed with the intention of sinning no more (Session XIV, Chapter IV: DH 1676), is necessary for the validity of sacramental confession, is still in force, so that the priest must postpone absolution when it is clear that this condition is not fulfilled.

Vatican City, 10 July 2023

Walter Card. Brandmüller

Raymond Leo Card. Burke

Juan Card. Sandoval Íñiguez

Robert Card. Sarah

Joseph Card. Zen Ze-Kiun, S.D.B.

The Reply:

Dear Brothers,

While I do not always find it prudent to answer questions addressed directly to me, and it would be impossible to answer them all, in this case I thought it appropriate to do so because of the proximity of the Synod.

Question 1

a) The answer depends on the meaning you give to the word “reinterpret”. If it is understood as “to interpret better” the expression is valid. In this sense, the Second Vatican Council affirms that it is necessary that with the work of exegetes – I would add of theologians – the Church’s judgment should mature” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 12).

b) Therefore, while it is true that divine Revelation is immutable and always binding, the Church must be humble and recognize that she never exhausts its unfathomable richness and needs to grow in her understanding.

c) Consequently, she also matures in her understanding of what she herself has affirmed in her Magisterium.

d) Cultural changes and the new challenges of history do not modify Revelation, but they can stimulate us to make more explicit some aspects of its overflowing richness, which always offers more.

e) It is inevitable that this can lead to a better expression of some past statements of the Magisterium, and in fact this has been the case throughout history.

f) On the other hand, it is true that the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but it is also true that both the texts of Scripture and the testimonies of Tradition need an interpretation that makes it possible to distinguish their perennial substance from cultural conditioning. It is evident, for example, in the biblical texts (such as Ex 21:20-21) and in certain magisterial interventions that tolerated slavery (cf. Nicholas V, Bull Dum Diversas, 1452). This is not a minor issue given its intimate connection with the perennial truth of the inalienable dignity of the human person. These texts are in need of interpretation. The same is true for some New Testament considerations on women (1 Cor 11:3-10; 1 Tim 2:11-14) and for other texts of Scripture and testimonies of Tradition that today cannot be materially repeated.

g) It is important to emphasize that what cannot change is what has been revealed “for the salvation of all” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 7). For this reason the Church must constantly discern between what is essential for salvation and what is secondary or less directly connected with this goal. In this regard, I would like to recall what St. Thomas Aquinas said:

“the more one descends to 10 particulars, the more indeterminacy increases” (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 94, art. 4).

h) Finally, a single formulation of a truth can never be adequately understood if it is presented in isolation, isolated from the rich and harmonious context of the whole of Revelation. The “hierarchy of truths” also implies situating each of them in adequate connection with the more central truths and with the totality of the Church’s teaching. This can finally give rise to different ways of expounding the same doctrine, even though “to those who are satisfied with a monolithic doctrine defended by all without nuance, this may seem an imperfect dispersion.

But the reality is that this variety helps to better manifest and develop the various aspects of the inexhaustible richness of the Gospel” (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). Each theological line has its risks but also its opportunities.

Question 2

a) The Church has a very clear conception of marriage: an exclusive, stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the begetting of children. Only this union is called “marriage”. Other forms of union are realized only “in a partial and analogous way” (Amoris laetitia 292), which is why they cannot strictly be called “marriage”.² 

b) It is not a mere question of names, but the reality that we call marriage has a unique essential constitution that demands an exclusive name, not applicable to other realities. It is undoubtedly much more than a mere “ideal”.

c) For this reason the Church avoids any kind of rite or sacramental that could contradict this conviction and give the impression that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage.

d) In dealing with people, however, pastoral charity, which must permeate all our decisions and attitudes, must not be lost. The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity, which is also made up of kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot become judges who only deny, reject, exclude.³ 

e) For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage. Because when a blessing is requested, one is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to Live better, a trust in a Father who can help us to Live better.

f) On the other hand, although there are situations that from the objective point of view are not morally acceptable, pastoral charity itself requires us not to treat as “sinners” other people whose guilt or responsibility may be attenuated by various factors that influence subjective imputability (cf. St. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 17).

g) Decisions which, in certain circumstances, can form part of pastoral prudence, should not necessarily become a norm. That is to say, it is not appropriate for a Diocese, a Bishops’ Conference or any other ecclesial structure to constantly and in an official way enable procedures or rites for all kinds of matters, since everything “that which is part of a practical discernment in a particular situation cannot be elevated to the category of a norm”, because this “would give rise to an unbearable casuistry” (Amoris laetitia 304). Canon Law should not and cannot cover everything, nor should the Episcopal Conferences claim to do so with their various documents and protocols, because the life of the Church runs through many channels in addition to the normative ones.

Question 3

a) Although you recognize that the supreme and full authority of the Church is exercised either by the Pope because of his office or by the college of bishops together with its head, the Roman Pontiff (cf. Conc. Ecumen. Vat. II, Const. dogm. Lumen gentium, 22), nevertheless with these dubia you yourselves manifest your need to participate, to give your opinion freely and to collaborate, and thus you are claiming some form of “synodality” in the exercise of my ministry.

b) The Church is “mystery of missionary communion”, but this communion is not only affective or ethereal, but necessarily implies real participation: that not only the hierarchy but all the People of God in different ways and at different levels can make their voices heard and feel part of the Church’s journey.

In this sense we can say that synodality, as a style and dynamism, is an essential dimension of the life of the Church. On this point St. John Paul II has said very beautiful things in Novo Millennio Ineunte.

c) It is quite another thing to sacralize or impose a particular synodal methodology that pleases one group, to make it the norm and obligatory channel for all, because this would only lead to “freezing” the synodal journey, ignoring the diverse characteristics of the different particular Churches and the varied richness of the universal Church.

Question 4

a) “The common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood differ essentially” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 10). It is not convenient to maintain a difference of degree that implies considering the common priesthood of the faithful as something of “second category” or of lesser value (“a lower degree”). Both forms of priesthood enlighten and sustain each other.

b) When St. John Paul II taught that the impossibility of conferring priestly ordination on women must be affirmed “definitively,” he was in no way disparaging women and giving supreme power to men. St. John Paul II also affirmed other things. For example, that when we speak of priestly power “we are in the realm of function, not dignity or holiness” (St. John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, 51). These are words that we have not sufficiently embraced. He also clearly maintained that while the priest alone presides at the Eucharist, the tasks “do not give rise to superiority of one over the other” (St. John Paul II, Christifideles laici, note 190; cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration inter /risi9n/ores, VI). He also affirmed that if the priestly function is “hierarchical,” it should not be understood as a form of domination, but “is totally ordered to the holiness of the members of Christ” (St. John Paul II, Mulieris dignitatem, 27). If this is not understood and the practical consequences of these distinctions are not drawn, it will be difficult to accept that the priesthood is reserved only to men and we will not be able to recognize the rights of women or the need for them to participate, in various ways, in the leadership of the Church.

c) On the other hand, to be rigorous, let us recognize that a clear and authoritative doctrine about the exact nature of a “definitive statement” has not yet been exhaustively developed. It is not a dogmatic definition, and yet it must be adhered to by all. No one can publicly contradict it and yet it can be the subject of study, as is the case with the validity of ordinations in the Anglican Communion.

Question 5

a) Repentance is necessary for the validity of sacramental absolution, and implies the intention not to sin. But there is no mathematics here and once again I must remind you that the confessional is not a customs house. We are not owners, but humble stewards of the Sacraments that nourish the faithful, because these gifts of the Lord, more than relics to be guarded, are aids of the Holy Spirit for people’s lives.

b) There are many ways of expressing repentance. Often, in people who have a very wounded self-esteem, to plead guilty is a cruel torture, but the mere fact of approaching confession is a symbolic expression of repentance and of seeking divine help.

c) I would also like to recall that “sometimes it is very difficult for us to make room in pastoral ministry for the unconditional love of God” (Amoris laetitia 311), but we must learn to do so. Following St. John Paul II, I maintain that we should not demand from the faithful too precise and sure resolutions of amendment, which in the end can end up being abstract or even egotistical, but that even the foreseeability of a new fall “does not prejudge the authenticity of the resolution” (St. John Paul II, Letter to Card. William W. Baum and the participants of the annual course of the Apostolic Penitentiary, March 22, 1996, 5).

d) Finally, it should be clear that all the conditions that are usually placed on confession are generally not applicable when the person is in a situation of agony, or with very limited mental and psychic capacities.

This seems a full reply to me, but not a comforting one.  The Pope is bad about "the other hand" formulation on very serious matters, which interjects doubt by is very nature.  If things are muddled, and we know the rule, but "on the other hand", we invite first individual clerics and then individual laymen to assume that they fit into the "the other hand" and are exempt from the moral rule.

The Pope here, I suspect, is showing the sort of flexibility that is common, on an informal basis, in some parts of the world, but which will be poorly situated to apply here.  For example, it was common in some parts of the world for couples that intended to marry to basically contract a marriage independently and then wait for a traveling priest to later bless the union.  That certainly would not be tolerated as valid in North America, but it was in Central and South America at one time, for practical reasons.  At least in the 1970s (I don't know about now) books that instructed confessors on certain sins took a relaxed view based upon circumstances of a similar nature that I'm not going to get into, and this continues to be the case in other areas that are related.

Confusion over transubstantiation in at least Germany have lead to a practice in which in some areas Lutherans who are part of a marriage with a Catholic are allowed to receive Communion on the basis that they're beliefs, in some instances, are so close that it would be almost impossible for them to grasp that there is a difference.

I suspect that this is the area that Pope Francis is suggesting be explored.  Indeed, none other than the very orthodox Fr. Hugh Barbour has ventured the opinion that female same gender households that do not incorporate the element of sex may be fairly natural and not to be condemned, with the sexual element forced upon such individuals by the modern world.  Pope Francis may have something very similar to this in mind.

The problem, however, is that the Church never endorsed any of these things in a formal fashion. Recognizing mental state of mind for purposes of Confession, or for other purposes, is one thing.  Benedictions are another. 

Whether a person accepts Pope Francis' reply as correct, in part or in whole, is, of course, another matter from replying.  He did reply.  Frankly, given this reply, the Cardinal correspondents would have real reason to be concerned about the direction the Pope seems headed in, as do I.  Hence, they sent out a followup "Dubia", which is below:

REFORMULATED DUBIA

(Submitted August 21, 2023)

To His Holiness

FRANCIS

Supreme Pontiff

Most Holy Father,

We are very grateful for the answers which You have kindly wished to offer us. We would first like to clarify that, if we have asked You these questions, it is not out of fear of dialogue with the people of our time, nor of the questions they could ask us about the Gospel of Christ. In fact, we, like Your Holiness, are convinced that the Gospel brings fullness to human life and responds to our every question. The concern that moves us is another: we are concerned to see that there are pastors who doubt the ability of the Gospel to transform the hearts of men and end up proposing to them no longer sound doctrine but “teachings according to their own likings” (cf. 2 Tim 4, 3).  We are also concerned that it be understood that God’s mercy does not consist in covering our sins, but is much greater, in that it enables us to respond to His love by keeping His commandments, that is, to convert and believe in the Gospel (cf. Mk 1, 15).

With the same sincerity with which You have answered us, we must add that Your answers have not resolved the doubts we had raised, but have, if anything, deepened them. We therefore feel obliged to re-propose, reformulating them, these questions to Your Holiness, who as the successor of Peter is charged by the Lord to confirm Your brethren in the faith. This is all the more urgent in view of the upcoming Synod, which many want to use to deny Catholic doctrine on the very issues which our dubia concern. We therefore re-propose our questions to You, so that they can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

Your Holiness insists that the Church can deepen its understanding of the deposit of faith. This is indeed what Dei Verbum 8 teaches and belongs to Catholic doctrine. Your response, however, does not capture our concern. Many Christians, including pastors and theologians, argue today that the cultural and anthropological changes of our time should push the Church to teach the opposite of what it has always taught. This concerns essential, not secondary, questions for our salvation, like the confession of faith, subjective conditions for access to the sacraments, and observance of the moral law. So we want to rephrase our dubium: is it possible for the Church today to teach doctrines contrary to those she has previously taught in matters of faith and morals, whether by the Pope ex cathedra, or in the definitions of an Ecumenical Council, or in the ordinary universal magisterium of the Bishops dispersed throughout the world (cf. Lumen Gentium 25)?

Your Holiness has insisted on the fact that there can be no confusion between marriage and other types of unions of a sexual nature and that, therefore, any rite or sacramental blessing of same-sex couples, which would give rise to such confusion, should be avoided. Our concern, however, is a different one: we are concerned that the blessing of same-sex couples might create confusion in any case, not only in that it might make them seem analogous to marriage, but also in that homosexual acts would be presented practically as a good, or at least as the possible good that God asks of people in their journey toward Him. So let us rephrase our dubium: Is it possible that in some circumstances a pastor could bless unions between homosexual persons, thus suggesting that homosexual behavior as such would not be contrary to God’s law and the person’s journey toward God? Linked to this dubium is the need to raise another: does the teaching upheld by the universal ordinary magisterium, that every sexual act outside of marriage, and in particular homosexual acts, constitutes an objectively grave sin against God’s law, regardless of the circumstances in which it takes place and the intention with which it is carried out, continue to be valid?

You have insisted that there is a synodal dimension to the Church, in that all, including the lay faithful, are called to participate and make their voices heard. Our difficulty, however, is another: today the future Synod on “synodality” is being presented as if, in communion with the Pope, it represents the Supreme Authority of the Church. However, the Synod of Bishops is a consultative body of the Pope; it does not represent the College of Bishops and cannot settle the issues dealt with in it nor issue decrees on them, unless, in certain cases, the Roman Pontiff, whose duty it is to ratify the decisions of the Synod, has expressly granted it deliberative power (cf. can. 343 C.I.C.). This is a decisive point inasmuchas not involving the College of Bishops in matters such as those that the next Synod intends to raise, which touch on the very constitution of the Church, would go precisely against the root of that synodality, which it claims to want to promote. Let us therefore rephrase our dubium: will the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome, and which includes only a chosen representation of pastors and faithful, exercise, in the doctrinal or pastoral matters on which it will be called to express itself, the Supreme Authority of the Church, which belongs exclusively to the Roman Pontiff and, una cum capite suo, to the College of Bishops (cf. can. 336 C.I.C.)?

In Your reply Your Holiness made it clear that the decision of St. John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is to be held definitively, and rightly added that it is necessary to understand the priesthood, not in terms of power, but in terms of service, in order to understand correctly our Lord’s decision to reserve Holy Orders to men only. On the other hand, in the last point of Your response You added that the question can still be further explored. We are concerned that some may interpret this statement to mean that the matter has not yet been decided in a definitive manner. In fact, St. John Paul II affirms in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that this doctrine has been taught infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium, and therefore that it belongs to the deposit of faith. This was the response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium raised about the apostolic letter, and this response was approved by John Paul II himself. We therefore must reformulate our dubium: could the Church in the future have the faculty to confer priestly ordination on women, thus contradicting that the exclusive reservation of this sacrament to baptized males belongs to the very substance of the Sacrament of Orders, which the Church cannot change?

Finally, Your Holiness confirmed the teaching of the Council of Trent according to which the validity of sacramental absolution requires the sinner’s repentance, which includes the resolve not to sin again. And You invited us not to doubt God’s infinite mercy. We would like to reiterate that our question does not arise from doubting the greatness of God’s mercy, but, on the contrary, it arises from our awareness that this mercy is so great that we are able to convert to Him, to confess our guilt, and to live as He has taught us. In turn, some might interpret Your answer as meaning that merely approaching confession is a sufficient condition for receiving absolution, inasmuch as it could implicitly include confession of sins and repentance. We would therefore like to rephrase our dubium: Can a penitent who, while admitting a sin, refuses to make, in any way, the intention not to commit it again, validly receive sacramental absolution?

Vatican City, August 21, 2023

Walter Card. Brandmüller                     

Raymond Leo Card. Burke

Juan Card. Sandoval Íñiguez

Robert Card. Sarah

Joseph Card. Zen Ze-kiun

 cc: His Eminence Rev. Luis Francisco Card. LADARIA FERRER, S.I.

They did not receive a reply to this Dubia.

There may be reasons for that.  One may be that Pope Francis intends to answer these questions through the Synod itself, and come down squarely on the side of orthodoxy in a clear way.  There is, in my view, reason to believe that.  He may, accordingly, have felt that he didn't want to jump the gun.

Or he may be wanting to explore this topic in the fashion I noted above, although that would presumably end up in some document regarding pastoral care, rather than one that goes much further than that.

Whatever the case, damage has been done.  A group of "liberal" left wing Catholics that would convert crosses into personal set asides is already assuming the Pope is endorsing their views.  The press is assuming this to be the case.  Thousands of orthodox Catholics are also assuming this to be the case.

If, therefore, after a years long process the result is to reaffirm the historic understanding of the Church in a clear and definitive way, which I think is likely, those parties will howl with protest and rage and feel that they were betrayed.  If the result isn't clear, and with Pope Francis they tend not to be, the deep distrust of the current Papacy, together with the current College of Cardinals, will deepen and a rift that's been developing will be worse.  If a middle ground is developed, it'd have to be very truly middle ground not to spark discontent on both sides.

Catholics should, of course, pray for the Synod and have Faith.  But that doesn't mean that they have to accept this course of action in holding it as a good idea until the fruits are seen.  There's reason to be distressed, and that's a reason for prayer.

Finally, I'd note that when Pope Francis came into his office, he spoke of only occupying it briefly before retiring.  He's now 86 years old and just commencing a process that will only conclude in 2024 and then take some time for results to be issued.  We seem to live in an age when octogenarians simply assume continued life and health. Pope John XXIII was an old 81 years old when he died in June 1963 (when I was just a few days old).  He'd convened Vatican II the year prior, and while faithful Catholics do not have the leeway to condemn Vatican II the way that some Rad Trads do, it's always been a question of whether Vatican II would have looked a bit different, and whether that would have been good or bad, had he lived.

No reigning Pope since that time has lived to this age.

Footnotes:

1. Most of the attention has been on homosexual attraction, but an open question is that if a deep-seated inclination in that direction lessens, in some fashion, its sinfulness such that the practitioners of it, in some fashion, can receive a benediction, why wouldn't it be true of other sexual sins?  I.e, can somebody excuse their adultery, or whatever this way?

The answer is of course going to be no, and that excusing sin is not the intent at all, but it will be taken that way.  In the Church of England (Episcopal Church) there's never been an endorsement of divorce or same gender marriage, but the door was cracked open and its not questioned now.

2.  Pope Francis has a habit of citing himself, which is what he's done here.  While not technically improper, and other authors do it, it is a bit confusing and a cite to yourself is not necessarily as convincing as one to another source.

On this comment, the concept that other forms of marriage, when discussed here, are analogous to marriage but cannot "strictly" be called marriages, implies that they can loosely be regarded as marriages.  This is the very sort of thing which causes orthodox Catholic concern.

3. This is undeniably somewhat true, but a really slippery slope.  

And its not completely true.  Denial and rejection of sin would seem to be absolutes.  Of course, that isn't what the Pope means, but rather he means to suggest we need to be careful with the origins of sin, or so that is what he seems to be meaning.

Wednesday, October 3, 1973. Battle of Ap Da Bien

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam repulsed a largescale raid in a war that was theoretically over, in the Battle of Ap Da Bien.   The raiders, the Peoples Army of Vietnam's 207th Regiment, were mostly former students of the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering.

The Soviet Union launched eight satellites simultaneously.

Sunday, October 3, 1943. De Gaulle ascends.

Gen. Charles de Gaulle became the sole leader of the Committee for National Liberation, following the resignation of Henri Giraud.

Today in World War II History—October 3, 1943: Japanese finish evacuating Kolombangara, their last air base in the Solomons, after the island had been bypassed and isolated by the Allies.

Sarah Sundin.

The village of Lingiades (Λιγκιάδες) was arbitrarily chosen for reprisals by the Germans over the killing of a German officer by the Greek Resistance. As able-bodied men were harvesting walnuts at the time, most of the 92 victims were women, children, and the elderly.

British commandos landed at Termoli in Operation Devon, which would take the Italian harbor.

Central Italy experienced an earthquake.

Germans landed on Cos in the Aegean.

Wednesday, October 3, 1923. German resignations.

The entire German cabinet resigned, following after several Social Democrats joined Communists in a call for the lifting of martial law.

Blog Mirror: WEAKNESS IS LETHAL: WHY PUTIN INVADED UKRAINE AND HOW THE WAR MUST END

 

WEAKNESS IS LETHAL: WHY PUTIN INVADED UKRAINE AND HOW THE WAR MUST END

LDS reaffirms its position on gender and marriage.

This is only one of two stories on religions on this topic this week, the other being less clear and more significant, as it involves a much larger religion.

Be that as it may, the leadership of the Mormon church, which has quite distinct and unique views on marriage within that body, has reaffirmed its understanding of the same, and reemphasized the binary nature of gender in human beings.  That position, which is supported by science, has been under assault in Western culture in recent years.

Saturday, October 2, 1943. Japan extends conscription to university students.

The Japanese government ended the student deferment for conscription.

I am surprised to learn, frankly, that they had been deferred.

Japan had 45 universities and other additional institutions of higher education at the start of the war, and the number actually expanded during it.  The university system itself only extended back to 1877, to this was quite an expansion over a short period of time.

The Second Battle of Smolensk ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The Soviets gave Romanian POWs the choice of joining a Soviet formed Romanian division or remaining POWs.

Sweden issued a proclamation welcoming Danish refugees.  Sarah Sundin notes on her blog:

Today in World War II History—October 2, 1943: During the night of Oct. 1-2, the Nazis arrest Danish Jews, but most are in hiding, and only 284 are arrested.

The German governor of Poland Hans Frank created a court staffed by the Gestapo, which was authorized to carry out sentences immediately.  

The Australians took Finschafen, New Guinea.

The U.S. 6th Corps took Benevento, Italy.  The British 78th Division crossed the Biferno.  British commandos occupied Termoli.

Tuesday, October 2, 1923. Heavy construction.

Of interest, given the photograph above, another blog just came in with an entry on a bridge across the Salt River:

Industrial History: 1934+1996 US-60+AZ-77 Bridges over Salt River in A...: (Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; Satellite ) Aerial View via azmemory arizona "The Salt River Canyon Bridge spans one of the most dr...

Allied occupation of Istanbul ended with the final British, Italian and French troops departing.

The Küstrin Putsch was put down by the Reichswehr, deployed by the government.

Men of violence.

Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways.

Proverbs 3:31

Friday, October 1, 1943. The Germans depart, and destroy, Naples.

The U.S. 5th Army entered Naples.  The Germans burned the University of Naples and the Teatro di San Carlo on the way out.

German wartime poster attempting to recruit Italians to an SS formation.

The German appeal to the Italians didn't seem to be well calculated.

Hitler ordered Kesselring to hold a line south of Rome.

As a total aside, it was this date in 1943 that the German police and the Waffen SS adopted the M43 field cap, the famous billed cap that was patterned on the Bergmütze that had long been worn by German alpine troops. A similar hat had long been in Finnish use, nicknamed the "blood ladle".  German and Austrian alpine troops still wear a variant of it, as do many German hunters.

A very practical cap, the design had spread from mountain troops to the regular German Heer in a variant for North Africa, early versions of which had the ear flaps fixed in place, as some variants still do (including a variant now used as the Ukrainian field cap), but which the later versions allowed for them to be folded down, as with the Bergmütze.  The Afrika Korps version had a longer bill, which was retained for the M43.  When adopted by the Heer, it replaced the flat cap (garrison cap) which had been adopted in the 1930s.  The flat cap is a fairly useless cap, and the Bergmütze was a very practical one.  

As Waffen SS mountain units had already adopted the Bergmütze, they were allowed to fix the Edelweiss cap badge to their caps on this day, that being a symbol previously used only by the Heer.

Sarah Sundin noted the liberation of Naples and another item:

Today in World War II History—October 1, 1943: In Italy, US Fifth Army and British X Corps enter Naples. US Third War Loan Drive ends, raising $19 billion (quota $15 billion).

W. Averll Harriman was named Ambassador to the USSR

Monday, October 1, 1923. The Imperial Conference.

 The 1923 Imperial Conference opened in London.

Officially the Imperial Economic Conference, and the first one at which the Irish Free State was there, its principal concern was the rights of the Dominions in regard to determining their own foreign policy.

The naive, and indeed racist, quality of the meeting came forward in regard to a discussion on voting equality, about which Jan Smuts, of South Africa but of course a Boer, noted:

If there was to be equal manhood suffrage over the Union, the whites would be swamped by the blacks. A distinction could not be made between Indians and Africans. They would be impelled by the inevitable force of logic to go the whole hog, and the result would be that not only would the whites be swamped in Natal by the Indians but the whites would be swamped all over South Africa by the blacks and the whole position for which the whites had striven for two hundred years or more now would be given up. So far as South Africa was concerned, therefore, it was a question of impossibility. For white South Africa it was not a question of dignity but a question of existence.

W.E.B. Dubois, in turn, noted: 

This almost naïve setting of the darker races beyond the pale of democracy and of modern humanity was listened to with sympathetic attention in England. It is without doubt today the dominant policy of the British Empire,

It would prove to be the Empire's demise.

Not a dominion, but a colony, Southern Rhodesia, later Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, was granted "responsible government" status.  Its voters chose self-governance in 1922 rather than a union with South Africa.

The news from Cole Creek remained grim.

Of note, nobody currently alive has seen that creek anywhere even remotely near the bank levels depicted in these photographs.

Switzerland banned the display of fascist symbols in reaction to agitation in Lugano by fascist who wanted that region of Switzerland to join Italy.  Wearing of black shirts was also banned.

Humans being what they are, the agitators probably had no recollection of that by 1943.

September has seen more views of this blog than at any time in its history.

It hit over 60,000 views this month. The Previous record was 55,954 views in February 2017.  The reason there was fairly obvious.  I had been tracking the daily progress of the Punitive Expedition, and the readership had increased steadily from the point in 2016 in which I started to do that.  

Prior to that, readership was about 3,800 views per month. Tracking the Punitive Expedition, however, caused a steady rise, one which was aided by my cross posting many entries, which I later learned I was not supposed to do, on Reddit's 100 Years Ago today sub.  Following the 100th anniversary of the withdrawal from Mexico, however, and my cessation of the cross posting, it declined by May 2017 to just under 10,000 views per month.  It rose again by December 2017 to just over 38,500 views per month, and then fell back down to about 7,800 by February 2018.  It's bounced around since then, but it basically drops to almost 5,000 views per month to up to around 10,000 views per month, normally.  A couple of times hit has spiked, however, to highs in a single month, even up to 38,000 views.

In May of this year it had over 40,000 views, and then dropped to just over 9,000 the following month.  In July, it was up to 12,000 views.  Then suddenly it began skyrocketing to achieve the current new high.

Why?  I don't really know.  Daily high posts show that some people are coming in for World War Two events, and events of 1923, and to follow the Russo Ukrainian War. But there is no single thread that people have really been engaged with.  The blog has now been viewed almost 1,250,000 times, which is quite a number, no doubt a fair number of times by repeat visitors.

If you are even one of the hits on that 1.25M, and most particularly if you are a repeat visitor, thank you for stopping in.  And if you posted one or more comments here, all the more thanks.