Posted on 10/02/2024 11:03:30 AM PDT by ebb tide
Pope Francis and leading cardinals of the Roman Curia have led a penitential ceremony on the eve of the Synod on Synodality, asking forgiveness for failings towards creation, towards women, in the area of abuse, for using doctrine as “stones,” for “adorning the altar” instead of feeding the poor, and for not being synodal enough.
Gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica Tuesday evening, Pope Francis led the assembled participants of the Synod on Synodality in a mass confession-style event. The para-liturgy – situated midway down the central nave of the basilica rather than around the altar – comprised a series of testimonies and confessions.
Testimonies were given by individuals representing victims of clerical abuse, those displaced by war, those migrating from one nation to another.
Describing the impact of clerical sexual abuse, one victim of said abuse said that it had “shaken the faith of millions, tarnished the reputation of an institution that many look to for guidance, and caused a crisis of trust that reverberates through society. When an institution as prominent as the Catholic Church fails to protect its most vulnerable members, it sends a message that justice and accountability are negotiable – when in reality, they should be fundamental.”
Following each testimony, the choir sang settings of the psalm verse “Miserere Mei Domine.”
Alongside the testimonies was a series of public confessions and requests for forgiveness by seven cardinals, who made their requests in the name of all the faithful.
The requests for forgiveness were written by Francis personally, as he stated in his homily.
Indeed, the ceremony appeared as a crowning glory – from Francis’ stance – for his 11-year pontificate. Standing facing him on the opposite side of the basilica, his cardinals had to publicly ask for forgiveness for “sins” relevant to their respective Vatican offices – reading a confession written by Francis himself and bearing the hallmarks of his customary talking points over the last 11 years.
As previously noted by LifeSiteNews, the “sins” to be confessed included:
“The Church is in its essence of faith and proclamation always relational, and only by healing the sick relationships, we can become a synodal Church,” Francis said during the ceremony. “How could we be credible in the mission if we do not acknowledge our mistakes and stoop to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins?”
We could not invoke God’s name without asking for forgiveness from our brothers and sisters, the Earth and all creatures. And how could we be synodal Church without reconciliation?
Interspersed with the series of cardinals’ confessions were choral presentations: sometimes polyphonic settings of the Miserere Mei verse and other times with folk music from around the world.
Each of the cardinals made their requests for forgiveness in the name of all the faithful, collectively blaming all members of the Church and simultaneously asking God for forgiveness on behalf of all members of the church.
Their petitions were involved and detailed. Some were more traditional, such as referencing sins of abuse, whilst others were recent innovations by Francis, such as sins against synodality.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay asked for forgiveness “for the sin of lack of courage, of the courage necessary to seek peace among peoples and nations, in recognition of the infinite dignity of every human life in all its phases, from the nascent state to old age, Especially the children, the sick, the poor, of the right to have a job, land, home, family, community in which to live free, of the value that is the landscape and culture of every area of the planet.”
Canada’s Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J. – a prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for Integral Human Development – asked forgiveness for what “the faithful have done to transform creation from garden to desert, manipulating it at our own pleasure; and how much we did not do to prevent it.” Czerny also decried “when we were accomplices in systems that favored slavery and colonialism.”
For his part, Cardinal Sean O’Malley – head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the protection of minors – asked forgiveness “for all the times we have used the condition of ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected while we were profiting diabolically from the little ones and the poor.”
“I ask forgiveness, feeling shame, for all the times we have used the condition of ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected while we were profiting diabolically from the little ones and the poor.”
Cardinal Farrell – prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life – asked forgiveness especially for men for not having “recognized and defended the dignity of women, for when we made them mute and succubi, and not infrequently exploited, especially in the condition of consecrated life.”
The relatively new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Fernández, asked forgiveness for:
… all the times that in the Church, especially us pastors who are entrusted with the task of confirming our brothers and sisters in the faith, have not been able to guard and propose the Gospel as a living source of eternal newness, “indoctrinating it” and risking reducing it to a pile of dead stones to be thrown at others. I beg forgiveness, feeling shame for all the times we have given doctrinal justification to inhuman treatment.
I ask forgiveness, feeling shame for when we have not been credible witnesses of the fact that the truth is free, for when we have obstructed the various legitimate inculturations of the truth of Jesus Christ, who always travels the paths of history and life to be found by those who want to follow him with fidelity and joy. I ask forgiveness, feeling shame for the actions and omissions that have prevented and still make difficult the recomposition in unity of the Christian faith, and the authentic fraternity of all mankind.
Cardinal Cristóbal Romero asked, among other requests, for forgiveness “for when we turned our head to the other side in front of the sacrament of the poor, preferring to adorn ourselves and the altar with guilty valuables that steal bread from the hungry.”
Echoing a talking point of Francis’ since the start of his pontificate, Romero asked for forgiveness for “the inertia that keeps us from accepting the call to be a poor Church of the poor.”
One of the more controversial requests for forgiveness was that relating to the “sins against synodality,” and it fell to Cardinal Christoph Schönborn to make the confession.
“I ask forgiveness, feeling shame for the obstacles that we place in the building of a truly synodal, symphonic Church, aware of being holy people of God who walk together recognizing the common baptismal dignity,” he said.
I ask forgiveness, feeling shame for all the times that we have not heard the Holy Spirit, preferring to listen to ourselves, defending opinions and ideologies that hurt the communion in Christ of all, expected at the end of time from the Father. I ask forgiveness, feeling shame for when we have transformed authority into power, suffocating plurality, not listening to people, making it difficult for many brothers and sisters to participate in the mission of the Church, forgetting that we are all called in history, For faith in Christ, to become living stones of the one temple of the Holy Spirit. Forgive us, Lord.
The event had been much criticized after it was announced. Bishop Athanasius Schneider described it as “a tool to promote a new agenda in the synod, to establish new doctrines which are contrary to the divine revelation.”
New York priest and Canon Lawyer Father Gerald Murray told EWTN that it was the “politicization of the examination of conscience” and reminded him “of Soviet show trials”
The second session of the Synod on Synodality will commence in the morning of October 2.
Ping
Okay, Eminence, I forgive you, and the Pope, and Cdls Fernandez and Roche for TC.
Now revoke, abrogate, and suppress it today.
Anyone mention sodomy, pedophilia, heresy, apostasy etc?
No, I guess not.
This drivel is not the Catholic Faith in which I was raised ...
What absolute horsepucky. I think the Vatican gave up reading Paul centuries ago.
Francis is a HERETIC!!
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