Vatican City, October 14, 2023 (KAP) Several participants in the World Synod at the Vatican denied on Saturday that there had been strong controversies in the first two weeks of deliberations. The four-week global synod, made up of around 350 bishops, priests, religious and lay people, broke on Saturday. Vatican communications director Paolo Ruffini spoke of a “disruption-free dialogue, even if people don’t always agree.” Differences of opinion as such are addressed openly, but there is no polarization. The synodal meeting in the Vatican began on October 4th and runs until October 29th.
Everyone tries to listen and understand each other, even despite cultural and conceptual differences, said Ruffini. Participants are prepared to have their opinions questioned and, if necessary, changed.
“It is an extraordinary exercise in community in diversity”, said the trained journalist, summarizing his observations. However, Ruffini did not rule out the possibility that a “stronger polarization” could occur in the second half of the synodal meeting.
The Ticino-born abbot general of the Cistercian order, Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, told journalists at the Vatican: “Fortunately, this synod avoids journalistic controversies.
The monk expressly denied that the admission of women to the priesthood was a topic of discussion, although there was talk of a possible diaconate for women. But this is not about “demands”, but about how the Church can better fulfill its mission in the world.
In the background discussions in the previous days, other participants stated that there had always been significantly different positions, including on the issue of women. After some statements there was applause.
American Jesuit James Martin, considered a defender of opening up pastoral care to homosexuals, tweeted on Saturday on platform divergences exist. But it’s definitely hard work!”
From Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (78) and the president of the episcopal conference, Archbishop Franz Lackner (67), are members of the synod. Among the invited theological experts and advisors – without voting rights – is pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar (42), who works as a professor of pastoral theology at the Private Catholic University (KU) Linz and Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca teaches in Romania.