Posted on 10/11/2024 12:55:32 PM PDT by ebb tide
On October 9, 343 of the 365 participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall for the third day of their four-day consideration of the session’s second module, “Relations” (synod agenda).
“Relations” is the title of the first part of the session’s instrumentum laboris, or working document (pp. 11-22).
Following the morning general congregation in Paul VI Audience Hall, participants gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for a Maronite Divine Liturgy.
“We must remember throughout our synodal journey that the future of our churches and our respective countries, especially those in times of crisis, must not depend solely on geostrategic and geopolitical calculations and analyses,” Auxiliary Bishop Paul Rouhana of Beirut, Lebanon, preached. “Let us pray so that the Lord may grant us the strength and the wisdom to overcome these difficulties and lead us toward a future of hope.”
Press briefing
The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, has imposed tight secrecy on synod participants (Regulations, Article 24), binding them to confidentiality, even with respect to their own contributions, and even after the session concludes. The regulations stand in marked contrast to the relative transparency of the Synod of Bishops under St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, during which the Vatican routinely published the synod fathers’ interventions (speeches). The daily press briefing thus offers an impressionistic, if filtered, glimpse into the synod’s proceedings.
Participants in the October 9 press briefing (video) included
The Vatican newspaper reported that “the most applauded testimony in the Paul VI Hall was given by a mother, who was deeply concerned about her children, so much so that she asked the Synod for a word of help to raise them in the Christian faith.”
Pires said that the following topics were discussed in 56 interventions (35 on the afternoon of October 8, and 21 on the morning of October 9):
Ruffini added that the following topics were discussed:
Ruffini added that “the Chinese bishop Giuseppe Yang intervened, bringing his greetings, praising the benefit brought by the 2018 agreement between the Holy See and China.”
Consultation on forthcoming document on women and ministry
In February, Pope Francis created ten study groups to explore some of the issues raised during the October 2023 synod session. The study groups are expected to finish their work by June 2025.
On October 2, the opening day of the current synod session, representatives of study groups updated synod participants on their work.
In this context, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, revealed that his dicastery is preparing a document on women and ministry.
“Based on the analysis conducted so far,” he stated in his written text, “the Dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision by the Magisterium regarding the access of women to the diaconate, understood as a degree of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Holy Father recently confirmed this consideration publicly. In any event, the Dicastery judges that the opportunity to continue the work of in-depth study remains open.”
He added:
Even so, the study conducted so far by the Dicastery has set out a particularly interesting way forward: to analyze in depth the lives of some women who—in both the early and recent history of the Church—have exercised genuine authority and power in support of the Church’s mission. This authority or power was not tied to sacramental consecration, as would be in the case, at least today, with diaconal ordination.
Cardinal Fernández cited several examples, from medieval figures such as St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. Catherine of Siena, to twentieth-century figures such as Maria Montessori and Dorothy Day.
Colleen Dulle of America reported that Cardinal Fernández’s written text differed from the words he spoke to synod participants:
Notably the line that “the Dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision” was missing from Fernandez’ speech, replaced with “We know the Pontiff’s public position that he does not consider the issue mature. The opportunity for further study remains open...”
During the October 9 press briefing, Ruffini revealed that Cardinal Fernández invited synod participants to share their thoughts on women and ministry as the document is being drafted. Vatican News reported:
Ruffini reported that Cardinal Secretary General Mario Grech read a communiqué from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, specifying that the topic of Study Group No. 5—on “Some theological and canonistic questions around specific ministerial forms,” particularly the participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church—had already been entrusted to the aforementioned Dicastery prior to the Synod’s request.
Therefore, the prefect’s statement said, the work must follow the Dicasterial procedures established in its own regulations, with a view to the publication of an appropriate Document. After hearing bishops and cardinals in the regular meeting of the Dicastery, the topic is now in the consultative phase: the consultors who provide the basis for the document have already been consulted. The consultation is also expected to include women who are not consultors.
All members and theologians of the synod can send opinions and aids in the coming months. On the 18th, two theologians from the dicastery will be available to receive proposals on the topic in writing or orally.
Archbishop Saure, Archbishop Luis Pérez of Puerto Montt, and Deacon De Cubber—the only Latin-rite deacon taking part in the synod session—then discussed a wide range of topics, including the importance of deacons, a potential post-synodal encounter for deacons, synodal spirituality, the “purification” of relationships in the Church and society, and the intense suffering in Mozambique, devastated by an Islamist insurgency.
Earlier coverage
Colleen Dulle of America reported that Cardinal Fernández’s written text differed from the words he spoke to synod participants:
Notably the line that “the Dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision” was missing from Fernandez’ speech, replaced with “We know the Pontiff’s public position that he does not consider the issue mature. The opportunity for further study remains open...”
During the October 9 press briefing, Ruffini revealed that Cardinal Fernández invited synod participants to share their thoughts on women and ministry as the document is being drafted.
Whether by hook or by crook, Francis is determined to sneak his womyn deekons into his "church" to please his feminazis.
To paraphrase another headline from today, it feels like the Catholic church has entered a synodal doom cycle.
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