Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, at the end of the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Together with the Holy Father, 380 cardinals, patriarchs, bishops and priests, all members of the Synod, concelebrated the liturgy. Synod participants voted on the summary document on Saturday night.
In his homily, the Pope spoke of the Church’s mission to be “a port of mercy with open doors”. The church should never demand a “good conduct record,” but should accept all people.
“We listened to each other during the Synod and, most of all, we listened to the Holy Spirit through the rich diversity of our stories and feelings. Today we still do not see the full fruit of this process, but we can look with vision at the horizon that opens before us: “The Lord will guide us and help us to be a more missionary Church, serving the women and men of our time and going out to bring everyone the consoling joy of the Gospel”, said the Pope.
The World Catholic Synod meeting ended in Rome over the weekend without any concrete progress in terms of reforms. After almost four weeks, Catholic bishops and laypeople – including women for the first time – adopted a joint declaration on Saturday night with a two-thirds majority, which, however, remained quite vague on controversial points. There will be another meeting like this in October next year.
The World Synod is considered one of the Pope’s most important projects. Most representatives of German Catholics expected signs that the Church would be willing to reform. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Salzburg Archbishop Franz Lackner attended from Austria, and Linz pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar was among the invited theological experts and advisors – without voting rights.
The summary document of the four-week deliberations, which was approved by an overwhelming majority on Saturday night, represents a roadmap for the Church for the period up to the next synod in autumn 2024 “and well beyond”, Schönborn said on the night of Saturday in an interview with Austrian media representatives in Rome, according to Kathpress. The cardinal emphasized that he was not taking home a document from the Synod, but above all an experience of unity that “I had not experienced in the Church for a long time”. And he wanted to transmit this experience of the synodal Church.
Schönborn once again praised the Synod’s method of discussion, which had an “incredible effect” with its strong emphasis on listening and responding to what was heard. “The fact that all these issues were put on the table openly and freely and without fear of each other. I’ve never experienced it this way before,” he said.
The cardinal also reiterated the important importance of the new presence of women in the synodal assembly. This has had a huge impact on queries and “makes a huge difference”.
At the Synod, “much was discussed, there was no prohibition on speaking,” Archbishop Lackner reported to Kathpress about the deliberations. Thematically, since the first phases of the World Synod, which took place at the level of local churches and continents, “a lot was brought back that is also on the table”, recalled Lackner – “and that was not swept away. “
The president of the Conference of Bishops described the synodal attitude practiced as central. “The question is, how does it all fit together?” Here we have to broaden our perspective, look at the entire universal church, bring things to change, but also ensure that the church does not lose connection to its origins and listen to the Holy Spirit. “And that is the task of all of us, not just Rome,” Lackner added.
The We Are Church reform movement positively evaluated the results of the World Synod deliberations. All urgent issues are now on the table, he said in a statement on Sunday. Now, the reform process initiated by Pope Francis must continue at all levels. “Controversies and tensions are inevitable, given the immense delay in reforms in which the Universal Roman Catholic Church finds itself. Despite the still very masculine and clerical prejudice, a forward-looking dynamic has developed in the last four weeks.”
We Are Church particularly praise the fact that lay people and women also participated in the Synod. In doing so, Pope Francis has effected a “system change” that can no longer be reversed. Even though it is still far from there being enough concrete decisions, the deliberations were an “important learning process”.