The Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church in Rome wrote to the public for the first time. He says that it is also necessary to listen to lay people, women and men.
The Synod of Bishops in Rome addressed the people of God with a message. “In many ways, it was an unprecedented experience,” the Synod’s 365 voting participants reported in recent weeks. The letter, which was voted in secret on Wednesday afternoon in the Synod Hall at the Vatican, continues: “For the first time, at the invitation of Pope Francis, men and women were invited to sit at the same table and not just to participate in the discussions, based on their baptism, but also to participate in the votes of this Synod of Bishops”. called baptismal.
The original plan was to publish the Synod’s message on Monday. The Vatican press office then announced, surprisingly, that the vote would be postponed until Wednesday. The reason given was that several requests for changes were received.
There were discrepancies about the content, it was said more specifically behind closed doors in Rome. The approximately 400 participants in the Synod are urged by Pope Francis not to publicly comment on the content of the meeting. We also heard that there were concerns about the composition of the Synod. For the first time in Rome, at a Synod of Bishops, lay people, including 54 women, were among the 365 voting participants. Therefore, before the message was transmitted, there was the question of who was meant by “us”, as formulated in the current letter. In previous messages from episcopal meetings, the senders referred to themselves as “synodal fathers.”
“Synod of Bishops with expanded participation”
The question of what exactly is the assembly that has been meeting in Rome since October 4th, and therefore its legitimacy under canon law, has lingered for some time. In April this year, Pope Francis announced that women and men who are clergy or minor religious will be able to discuss and vote on equal terms in global synods at the Vatican. Until then, only bishops and leaders of religious orders had the right to vote at regular meetings in Rome. Lay people have also participated, but only as consultants.
The current meeting, which runs until October 29, was officially convened as the first part of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna told journalists on Monday that he did not see the problem. “It remains a synod of bishops with real participation by non-bishops,” he said. “In the exercise of the papal office, the office of Peter, the Synod of Bishops is a body to exercise collegial responsibility for the teaching and life of the Church. Therefore, its nature has not changed, but it has been expanded.” He spoke of a “synod of bishops with expanded participation.”
Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican Communications Authority, confirmed this view, saying at a press conference on Wednesday that the synod is a “consultative assembly” and that the episcopal character will not be compromised by additional non-episcopal members.