tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/synod-12953/articlesSynod – The Conversation2023-10-24T12:22:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136342023-10-24T12:22:43Z2023-10-24T12:22:43ZHot-button topics may get public attention at the Vatican synod, but a more fundamental issue for the Catholic Church is at the heart of debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553561/original/file-20231012-23-kmieb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1024%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delegates attend the opening of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Oct. 4, 2023, at the Vatican. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-attend-the-opening-of-the-xvi-ordinary-general-news-photo/1717279413?adppopup=true">Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>High-ranking Catholics from across the globe have converged on the Vatican, where a landmark initiative is underway that will shape the future of the Catholic Church.</p>
<p>Cardinals, bishops, priests and lay Catholics, both men and women, are meeting Oct. 4-29, 2023, as part of <a href="https://www.synod.va/en.html">the Synod on Synodality</a>: an effort Pope Francis launched in 2021 to generate dialogue among Catholics.</p>
<p>More than two weeks into the synod’s first global assembly, participants are largely keeping quiet. Opening the synod, Francis called for <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/10/11/synod-on-synodality-finds-its-voice-after-pope-francis-enforces-silence/">a “fasting of the public word</a>,” encouraging delegates to focus inward and treat discussions as private.</p>
<p>The goal of the three-year synod process is to consult with everyday Catholics worldwide about their concerns and experiences, guiding leaders’ decision-making as the church enters its third millennium amid new challenges.</p>
<p>Controversial issues such as <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/07/25/synod-raises-hopes-for-long-sought-recognition-of-women-in-the-catholic-church/">women’s roles in ministry</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-synod-pope-4ab34cbc37d16b036bc190efceaf52c8">LGBTQ+ people’s place in the church</a> dominate synod-related headlines, and are presumably being discussed. Often overlooked, however, is an even more fundamental issue: what power and authority should look like in the church.</p>
<h2>Far-reaching process</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worldwide-consultations-for-the-global-synod-reflect-pope-francis-efforts-toward-building-a-more-inclusive-catholic-church-213129">The synod</a> began with listening sessions at parishes, Catholic universities and other Catholic settings across the globe. All dioceses – the geographic regions into which the Catholic Church divides its ministry – were urged to hold such sessions.</p>
<p>In theory, these discussions offered an opportunity for all Catholics to have their voices heard at the highest levels of the church. Key themes were passed up to local bishops, then synthesized into documents that informed consultations by a national-level assembly, and, in turn, the global assembly.</p>
<p>In some places, however, local leaders have not promoted the synod or <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/firebrand-texas-bishop-strickland-says-rome-synod-will-reveal-true-schismatics">have explicitly criticized it</a>.</p>
<h2>Clericalism vs. dialogue</h2>
<p>Several topics on the table have garnered public attention, such as some Catholics’ hopes <a href="https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/married-priests-newsy-question-is-a-fixture-at-synods-past-and-present">to allow married priests</a> or <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/07/25/synod-raises-hopes-for-long-sought-recognition-of-women-in-the-catholic-church/">women deacons</a>. Arguably the most important issue, however, is authority.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a black clerical robe with a pink sash and another man in all black, both wearing name tags, smile as they leave a building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553567/original/file-20231012-29-elxazq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Synod delegates at the Vatican leave the first meeting of the General Assembly on Oct. 5, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-leave-the-paul-vi-hall-at-the-end-of-the-first-news-photo/1718797861?adppopup=true">Franco Origlia/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Conservative factions yearn for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/world/europe/pope-francis-synod-conservatives.html">clear teaching” on doctrine</a> and strong centralized authority – even as, ironically, they <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-heresy/conservatives-want-catholic-bishops-to-denounce-pope-as-heretic-idUSKCN1S73KE">resist the authority of the current pope</a>, whom they criticize as an undisciplined leader or as too liberal. </p>
<p>Progressive factions, on the other hand, often seem to yearn for more democratic decision-making, akin to the independent authority local congregations have in some Protestant denominations.</p>
<p>In fact, as a scholar of <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/staff/">the public role of the Catholic Church</a>, I suspect both groups are likely to be disappointed. </p>
<p>The church <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html">strongly supports democracy</a> in the secular world. Internally, however, Catholicism preserves a deep tradition of governance rooted in apostolic succession: the teaching that bishops’ authority descends directly <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_1973_successione-apostolica_en.html">from the Apostles of Jesus Christ</a>. In other words, the legitimacy of their leadership stems from this lineage, rather than a democratic process.</p>
<p>The synod process aims to move toward a more dialogue-based model for how the authority of priests and bishops should work, within this apostolic understanding of Catholic authority.</p>
<h2>Francis v. ‘clericalism’</h2>
<p>Catholics and many non-Catholics tend to understand the church as a kind of vertically integrated corporation, where unquestioned authority flows from the top. </p>
<p>Waves of clergy sex abuse scandals, in particular, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/clericalism-cited-root-sex-abuse-crisis">have discredited this model</a> in many people’s eyes, and Francis appears to be moving Catholicism away from this style of leadership. He has repeatedly criticized “clericalism”: the tendency to center the faith on priests and obedience to their authority. </p>
<p>“To say "no” to abuse is to say an emphatic “no” to all forms of clericalism,“ he wrote <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html">in a 2018 letter</a> addressed to "the people of God.” Five years later, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-to-priest-of-rome-i-am-on-the-journey-with-you.html">in a note to priests in Rome</a>, he described clericalism as “a sickness” that leads to authority “without humility but with detached and haughty attitudes.”</p>
<p>Instead, Francis is advancing a model in which bishops exercise their authority through continuous dialogue with the faithful, the Catholic intellectual tradition and the wider world. This model views the church as constantly evolving, even as it forever affirms core truths. </p>
<p>Sociologists call these types of models “participative hierarchy.” One aspect of this more responsive and dynamic model of authority has been prominently on display during the general assembly: Nuns and laypeople, both men and women, <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-appoints-hundreds-attend-synod-bishops-synodality#:%7E:text=Pope%20Francis%20made%20significant%20changes,as%20members%20also%20is%2054.">are full participants</a>, with voice and vote in all matters coming before the synod.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three women, one of whom wears a headcovering, chat at a round table as three men look at laptops and phones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553568/original/file-20231012-29-i4qxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Delegates attend the synod’s first meeting, which includes religious sisters, on Oct. 5, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/delegates-attend-the-first-meeting-of-the-xvi-ordinary-news-photo/1718794559?adppopup=true">Franco Origlia/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>While this sounds moderate, it challenges the core understanding of authority among clericalist Catholics, who argue that such reforms would go against tradition. However, Catholicism has used <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html">both models of authority</a> in different periods. </p>
<h2>Politics and the pope</h2>
<p>The controversy surrounding the synod also reflects a simple fact: The Catholic Church in the U.S. is as polarized as secular American society. </p>
<p>A decade ago, at the very start of Francis’ papacy, he was seen as a moderate conservative. But he quickly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/world/europe/in-weddings-pope-francis-looks-past-tradition.html?searchResultPosition=2">signaled openness to the modern world</a>, in part by criticizing two qualities as anathema to Catholic teachings. First, clericalism, with its tendency to treat clergy <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/world/europe/pope-francis-in-christmas-speech-has-stern-rebuke-for-vatican-bureaucracy.html">as elite or above accountability</a>. Second, a backward-looking nostalgia for some earlier time when a perfect Catholicism supposedly existed – a stance that Francis sees as undercutting Catholicism here and now.</p>
<p>As of 2021, about 4 in 5 U.S. Catholics <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/06/25/americans-including-catholics-continue-to-have-favorable-views-of-pope-francis/">had a positive opinion of Francis</a>. Among clergy and Catholic leaders, however, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/us/pope-vatican-catholic-church-texas-bishop.html">he has some vocal detractors</a>.</p>
<p>While Francis has embraced constructive debate, he has pointedly <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-removes-cardinal-burke-vatican-post">removed from authority</a> some clergy, including Americans, whom he sees as actively undermining his direction for the church. More recently, he accused U.S. conservatives of “backwardness” and of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-conservatives-abortion-us-bbfc346c117bd9ae68a1963478bea6b3">replacing spirituality with ideology</a>.</p>
<p>For now, the synod moves forward despite the divides. There will be another synod assembly in Rome <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-10/pope-francis-synod-bishops-extension-2023-2024.html">in October 2024</a>, after which final recommendations will be made and the pope will decide what to put into action. </p>
<p>Beyond whatever particular changes this synod assembly may or may not recommend, its deeper impact will lie in how Francis’ vision of Catholic authority fares. In the long term, I would argue, this is where the Catholic future will be most shaped. The world’s <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/2022/04/30/global-christianity/">1.4 billion Catholics</a> will be watching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Wood is president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Wood serves (pro bono) on the national governing Board of Faith in Action, a non-profit network that engages in training leaders in non-partisan faith-based community organizing. He consults for The Fetzer Institute, a non-profit foundation that provides grants to advance spiritually-informed work. Neither organization is positioned to benefit directly from this article, but work on distantly related terrain.</span></em></p>Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality is attempting to move the church toward a more dialogue-based model of authority, a scholar of Catholicism explains.Richard Wood, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149892023-10-10T14:53:40Z2023-10-10T14:53:40ZCatholic synod: the voices of church leaders in Africa are not being heard – 3 reasons why<p>The Catholic church today is <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-11/pope-polarization-is-not-catholic-dialogue-is-the-only-way.html">deeply polarised</a>. This has created doctrinal fissures that are seemingly unbridgeable. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/polarization-in-the-church-how-can-it-be-overcome">many rumbling contestations</a> on questions of identity, mission, faith and morality. Other questions touch on pastoral life, the nature of marriage and family life, denial of holy communion to divorced and remarried Catholics, clerical celibacy, authority in the church and reproductive rights. </p>
<p>There is also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-is-increasingly-diverse-and-so-are-its-controversies-189038">serious erosion of religious authority</a>. Many church leaders have lost their credibility because of what Pope Francis calls the “<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/13/pope-francis-says2ofcatholicclergyarepaedophiles.html">leprosy of clerical sexual abuse</a>” and <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-04/pope-papal-foundation-scandals-damage-church-charity-work.html">financial scandals</a>. </p>
<p>The church in Africa hasn’t been spared these issues. In parts of the continent, the <a href="https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/bishop-who-was-victim-of-tribalism-is-to-be-nigerias-next-cardinal/16161#:%7E:text=The%2059%2Dyear%2Dold%20bishop,him%20to%20assume%20his%20office.">challenges</a> of ethnocentrism, abuse of religious authority and internal division are hurting the church’s credibility and effectiveness. And some national churches seem silent on rising crises of democracy and leadership across Africa.</p>
<p>There have always been divisions in the church, but its effectiveness and credibility <a href="https://concilium-vatican2.org/en/original/ilo/">in Africa</a> have been affected by clannish divisions and internal fights over money, power and position. This raises the question: how can the church be <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Health-African-Christian-Religion/dp/1498561276">the conscience of the continent</a> if it’s ravaged by the same internal problems found in political institutions? </p>
<p>Most of the controversies that faced the church in its first 500 years were resolved through basic synodal principles – the word synod means “walking together”. These principles were developed by African scholars and church leaders like Cyprian, Athanasius, Aurelius and Augustine.</p>
<p>In 2021, Pope Francis convened a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937">worldwide consultation on the future of the Catholic church</a>. This synod will conclude in 2024. Decisions made this year and next will define the future of modern Catholicism for many years to come. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-the-first-post-colonial-papacy-to-deliver-messages-that-resonate-with-africans-201638">Pope Francis: the first post-colonial papacy to deliver messages that resonate with Africans</a>
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<p>Sadly, in the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231004-pope-opens-church-meeting-amid-tensions-with-conservatives">process</a> so far, there seems to be no clear African agenda articulated through African Catholic church leaders. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://www.logos.com/product/209729/faith-in-action-volume-1-reform-mission-and-pastoral-renewal-in-african-catholicism-since-vatican-ii">observed</a> the preparations of Africa for this synod. I’m afraid that the mistakes made by the continent’s church leaders in previous synods – including two held specially to address Africa’s challenges in <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_14091995_ecclesia-in-africa.html">1994</a> and <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20091023_elenco-prop-finali_en.html#top">2010</a> – are being repeated. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://addisababa.synod2023.org/#:%7E:text=AFRICA%20SYNODAL%20CONTINENTAL%20ASSEMBLY%20Final,to%206th%20of%20March">African continental meeting</a> that took place in Ethiopia in March 2023 didn’t come up with a clear agenda to address the challenges facing African Catholics.</p>
<p>African delegates are faced with three major challenges going into the current consultations. First, they are simply responding to what is tabled in the <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/highlights/working-document-for-the-continental-stage.html">working document for the synod</a> rather than setting their own agenda. Second, they are treating the continent like a homogeneous entity. Third, they’re failing to demonstrate the changes that African Catholic leaders wish to make in their leadership styles, and pastoral and social ministries in local dioceses and religious congregations, without constantly looking up to Rome for instructions and directions.</p>
<h2>Drowned voices</h2>
<p>The latest synodal process began in 2021 with grassroots consultations, and national and continental assemblies. It has now entered the most decisive moment. </p>
<p>This is why it is important that African voices are heard. As a <a href="https://works.bepress.com/stanchuilo/">theologian</a> who has studied the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/009182961204000303?journalCode=misb">development of the synodal process in Africa</a>, I worry that African Catholic voices may instead be drowned.</p>
<p>First, African delegates at the synod are not formulating their own agenda. During the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20151026_relazione-finale-xiv-assemblea_en.html">two consultations on the family in 2014 and 2015</a>, Africans framed their responses to the synod’s working document as a rejection of a western agenda for change to the traditional family. They pushed back against a perceived attempt to impose on the rest of the church a new understanding of marriage that includes the blessing of same-sex relations. </p>
<p>African delegates have failed to present their position on how to deal with issues of marriage, polygamy, denial of communion to polygamists, childlessness, burial rites and widowhood practices. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church</a>
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<p>Second, the problems that face Africa are often localised. They require contextualised solutions. Yet, African delegates often treat the continent as homogeneous, with similar social, economic and political challenges. In the 2015 synod, Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea appealed to the delegates from Africa to <a href="https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2015/09/30/news/synod-africans-are-singing-from-different-songsheets-1.35228596/">speak with one voice</a>, as if Africa had one voice. </p>
<p>There is a need to present Africa in its diversity and richness. The churches of Europe, for instance, have always presented their issues in a more localised, national and specific sense – the German Catholic Church is implementing its <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/catholic-church-germanys-controversial-synodal-path/a-64971479#:%7E:text=In%20Germany%2C%20the%20Synodal%20Path,or%20remarry%20after%20a%20divorce.">own synodal path</a>. African delegates must resist the continued colonial structure, racialised thinking and mentality that sees Africa as one country rather than a continent of diversity and dynamic pluralism. </p>
<p>Finally, African delegates must move away from constantly asking Rome and the pope to help solve the issues within the church in Africa. The delegates must focus attention on the current situation of the church and society in Africa, and how African Catholics can solve their own problems by courageously confronting the internal challenges facing the church in the continent. </p>
<p>The Catholic church is witnessing its fastest growth in Africa (<a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/2022/04/30/global-christianity/#:%7E:text=April%2030%2C%202022&text=Following%20recent%20trends%2C%20the%20Catholic,growth%20in%20Europe%20(0.3%25)">2.1%</a> between 2019 and 2020). Out of a global population of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250362/number-of-catholics-in-asia-and-africa-continues-to-rise">1.36 billion Catholics, 236 million are African</a> (20% of the total). This growth is happening alongside a rise in poverty, social unrest, coups, wars and illiberal democracy.</p>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>African delegates must demonstrate a deeper understanding of the continent’s social and religious challenges. They must capture the hopes and dreams of their congregants, and articulate how the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-popes-new-letter-isnt-just-an-exhortation-on-the-environment-for-francis-everything-is-connected-which-is-a-source-of-wonder-213135">Catholic church can support social transformation</a> through authentic and credible religious experiences and practices.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Merciful-Church-Illuminative-Ecclesiology/dp/1626982651">Pope Francis</a> has said the future of the church and the world will be determined by how those who <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633">inhabit the peripheries of life are lifted up</a>. African delegates need to speak up for the millions of Africans who are poor and marginalised. </p>
<p>The Catholic church in Africa must become a champion for human rights, good governance and women’s empowerment. It needs to model the image of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worldwide-consultations-for-the-global-synod-reflect-pope-francis-efforts-toward-building-a-more-inclusive-catholic-church-213129">inclusive church</a> in its structures and priorities. It needs to nurture a new generation of Africans who understand the diverse challenges facing the continent and seek African solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Chu Ilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Divisions and tensions in the global church are affecting the church in Africa.Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor, World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131292023-10-04T12:32:39Z2023-10-04T12:32:39ZThe worldwide consultations for the global synod reflect Pope Francis’ efforts toward building a more inclusive Catholic Church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551819/original/file-20231003-25-d0sesg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1024%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis leads a prayer vigil at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sept. 30, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-leads-together-ecumenical-prayer-vigil-for-the-news-photo/1698698850?adppopup=true">Antonio Masiello/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 16th Synod of Bishops, the <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/news/new-dates-for-the-synod-on-synodality.html">first part of which will take place in Rome on Oct. 4-29, 2023</a>, and the second in 2024, will be the culmination of a two-year, worldwide conversation in the Catholic Church. </p>
<p>The term “synod” usually refers to a local or regional meeting of church leaders. The Synod of Bishops was <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19650915_apostolica-sollicitudo.html">established by Pope Paul VI in 1965</a> as a permanent body in the Catholic Church, although its members do not meet on a regular schedule. It specifically refers to a meeting of selected bishops from around the world to advise the pope on <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#CHAPTER_II.">matters of governance</a>. </p>
<p>The Synod of Bishops was set up after the Second Vatican Council, which was held from 1962 to 1965, to bring reforms and updates to the church. The Second Vatican Council stated that the entire college of all Catholic bishops, under the authority of the pope, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html">also serve as the church’s highest authority</a>. Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops as a way for Catholic bishops to exercise this authority. The council also stated that lay Catholics have an active role to play in the church.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/religiousstudies/thompson_daniel.php">theologian who studies the Catholic Church</a>, with an emphasis on the period during and after Vatican II, I argue that this upcoming synod reflects Pope Francis’ efforts to advance the reform agenda of Vatican II. He wants all Catholics to take an active role in thinking about the future of their church and wants the bishops to exercise their authority by first listening to the people. </p>
<h2>A more open church?</h2>
<p>Typically, there are three types of meetings of the Synod of Bishops.</p>
<p>Ordinary general assemblies usually get together every three or four years. The pope can also call an extraordinary meeting to discuss a more pressing topic and problem. Finally, popes have called special meetings of bishops in a certain region. For example, Francis held a special <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html">Synod on the Amazon in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>The 16th Synod of Bishops is an ordinary general assembly. At the direction of Francis, its preparation, initiated <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/synodal-process/opening-of-the-synodal-process.html">at a celebration in Rome in 2021</a>, involved a worldwide conversation among Catholics about their church.</p>
<p>Catholics from around the world were invited to meet in their local dioceses, pray together and discuss questions about their church. Some <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/us-synod-report-finds-participants-share-common-hopes-lingering-pain">700,000 Catholics across the U.S.</a> took part in these conversations.</p>
<p>The local churches collected and summarized the results of these meetings. Leaders at the regional, national and, finally, continental levels drafted reports on these conversations. </p>
<p>On the basis of all these earlier documents, in May 2023 the Vatican released its working document called “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/06/20/230620e.html">Instrumentum Laboris</a>” for the upcoming synod. </p>
<p>This meeting is therefore significant because it pictures the Catholic Church not as a top-down hierarchy but rather as an open conversation. For the first time, its voting members will not only be bishops but other Catholics as well. The changes indicate Francis’ intention to give all Catholics a voice in the decision-making process of the church.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/october/documents/20211009-apertura-camminosinodale.html">As Francis himself puts it</a>, the synod offers an opportunity “of moving not occasionally but structurally towards a synodal church, an open square where all can feel at home and participate.”</p>
<h2>Working document</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/07/07/230707a.html">450 people are expected to be in Rome</a> for the first part of the synod. This number will include representatives of religious orders and other Catholic organizations, as well as theologians from Catholic universities. </p>
<p>The pope’s expanded list will include a number of lay men and women. Additionally, representatives from other Christian churches will also attend the synod – although they will not have voting rights. </p>
<p>Those gathered in Rome will meet in both large sessions known as “general congregations” and small working groups, divided by the synod’s official languages – Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Its official documents <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/09/21/synod-participant-list-chinese-bishops-246130#:%7E:text=There%20will%20be%20five%20official,French%20and%20one%20in%20Portuguese.">will be issued in Italian and English</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rows of priests in green robes and pink skullcaps stand in a huge, ornate cathedral." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551822/original/file-20231003-21-4h0tv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pope Francis celebrates Holy Mass during the opening of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2021 at the Vatican.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pope-francis-celebrates-holy-mass-on-the-occasion-of-the-news-photo/1345971127?adppopup=true">Vatican Pool Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The working document outlines four broad areas of discussion: synodality, communion, mission and participation. The first term refers to the idea that the church as a whole should incorporate the synod’s process of focused conversations, listening and dialogue into its structure. The next two – communion and mission – refer to how a global church can balance unity and diversity in pursuit of its aims. The final term, participation, refers to the ways in which Catholics, both clergy and lay people, can take part in the church. This topic also includes discussion about what institutions and structures the church would need to create to serve its mission. </p>
<p>When participants talk about these topics, they will discuss issues that have divided the church, such as the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, the role of women in the church, relations between the Catholic Church and other churches, and relations between the church and different cultures, among others.</p>
<h2>Francis’ leadership style</h2>
<p>This Synod of Bishops reflects Francis’ style of leadership and his vision of the Catholic Church for the future. In his address to the synod held on Oct. 9, 2021, the pope said the success of the mission of the church depends on the closeness of the church to its people and their <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2021/october/documents/20211009-apertura-camminosinodale.html">ability to listen to one another</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man walk holding a large red book whose cover says 'La Parola di Dio'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551823/original/file-20231003-21-gebwvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Participants arrive for a vigil prayer led by Pope Francis and other religious leaders before the 2023 Synod of Bishops assembly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/participants-arrive-for-an-ecumenical-vigil-prayer-led-by-news-photo/1698848638?adppopup=true">Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The internal enemy of the mission of the church, according to Francis, is “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-to-priest-of-rome-i-am-on-the-journey-with-you.html">clericalism</a>,” the idea that clergy – priests and bishops – are somehow a spiritually superior class, separate from and above regular lay people. Francis himself has modeled a different version of the papal office by <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-francis-live-vatican-guesthouse-not-papal-apartments">rejecting many customs that he associates with clericalism</a>. For example, he has continued to live in a modest apartment rather than in the Vatican palace. </p>
<p>Through the process of consultation and conversation, Francis intends to combat clericalism in the Catholic Church by offering a different model for how the church can work. As Austen Ivereigh, a British journalist and biographer of Francis, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250119391/woundedshepherd">has written</a>: “The opposite of clericalism [for Francis] is synodality, meaning a method and process of discussion and participation in which the whole people of God can listen to the Holy Spirit and take part in the life and mission of the Church.” </p>
<p>After an additional year of conversations with the wider church, participants <a href="https://www.synod.va/en/news/new-dates-for-the-synod-on-synodality.html">will gather in Rome again in 2024</a>, when they will continue the discussions and vote on recommendations to the bishops. The bishops will in turn make recommendations to the pope, who will have the final say.</p>
<p>If Francis’ model of the church is persuasive, this synod, I believe, will be the beginning of an ongoing process in the church, the first of many conversations to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Speed Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Synod of Bishops meets in Rome, a Catholic theologian explains the preparations that went into the consultative process and what it says about Pope Francis’ vision for the future church.Daniel Speed Thompson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890382022-09-13T12:23:23Z2022-09-13T12:23:23ZThe Catholic Church is increasingly diverse – and so are its controversies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483823/original/file-20220910-35643-qv9x2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1017%2C677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">German Bishop Georg Bätzing talks with members of various Catholic youth organizations holding up umbrellas reading "Consecration for All" and "Jesus had two fathers."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/september-2022-hessen-frankfurt-main-bishop-georg-b%C3%A4tzing-news-photo/1243041607?adppopup=true">Sebastian Gollnow/Picture Alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a lot of talk about “<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-synod-of-bishops-a-catholic-priest-and-theologian-explains-168937">synodality</a>” in the Catholic church these days. Synodality refers to a process in which bishops and priests consult with lay Catholics about issues in the church.</p>
<p>In 2021, Pope Francis called for the “<a href="https://www.synod.va/en.html">Synod on Synodality</a>,” a worldwide discussion of issues that impact the church, which will culminate with a bishops’ meeting in Rome. <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/synod-on-synodality-reaches-a-due/">A final report</a> is scheduled for October 2023. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church in Germany has also moved forward with a national “synodal path” to restore trust after its own <a href="https://angelusnews.com/news/world/german-synodal-way-is-rapid-response-to-abuse-scandal-conference-says/">sexual abuse</a> scandal.</p>
<p>The German synodal path has been controversial. On Sept. 8, 2022, a minority of German bishops <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/german-bishops-spike-synodal-way-sex-document/">blocked</a> a motion to <a href="https://www.synodalerweg.de/fileadmin/Synodalerweg/Dokumente_Reden_Beitraege/englisch-SV-IV/ENGL_SV-IV-SynodalForum-IV-Foundational-text_Second-reading.pdf">redefine</a> Catholic teaching on homosexuality, bisexuality, gender identity and masturbation. In response, some proponents of these liberalizations warned they would “<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252247/after-sex-document-at-german-synodal-way-is-blocked-organizers-vow-to-take-it-to-rome">take it to Rome</a>.”</p>
<p>Church leaders around the world and in the Vatican have closely watched the German meetings. There has been sharp debate over <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/24/german-synodal-path-way-explainer-240919">calls by German Catholics</a> for priests to <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2022/07/german-catholic-leaders-astonished-at-vatican-warning-about-synodal-path">ordain women and bless same-sex unions</a>. These proposals have been embraced by some German church bishops, but <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-07/holy-see-germany-church-synodal-path-convergence-universal-churc.html">criticized</a> by the Vatican as well as by an international group of <a href="https://catholicnews.com/german-bishop-responds-to-letter-criticizing-synodal-path/">74 bishops</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/mathew-schmalz">a scholar of global Catholicism</a>, I believe this controversy reflects much wider tensions within Catholicism. In 1910, two-thirds of the world’s Catholics lived in Europe. Today, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/">just one in four do</a>. The church’s numbers have grown most quickly in Africa and Asia. As more power <a href="https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/10/latest-numbers-confirm-global-south-new-catholic-center-gravity">shifts to the global south</a>, the church sometimes struggles to chart a path forward for all regions, each of which has its own distinct perspectives.</p>
<p>The German meeting spotlights particularly difficult topics about sexuality and women’s roles, where some Catholics in Europe, <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/synod-reports-us-catholics-call-womens-leadership-lgbtq-welcoming">North America</a> and <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/australias-catholic-plenary-council-crisis-over-role-women-church">Australia</a> clash with Catholics elsewhere. </p>
<h2>Continental divides</h2>
<p>The Catholic Church is often assumed to look and feel the same everywhere. But Catholicism is culturally quite diverse. </p>
<p>The most public disagreement involves African Catholics and those in the United States and Europe. For example, Ghanaian Catholic bishops have criticized advocates for LGBTQ rights for imposing “<a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/2896/catholic-bishops-in-ghana-condemn-homosexuality-proponents-seek-governments-stance">their so-called values and beliefs</a>.” Other African bishops have said they feel <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/africans-defend-conservative-line-on-gays-divorce-at-catholic-bishops-synod-1444901457">betrayed</a> by liberal sentiments in European Catholicism, such as the push to allow Holy Communion for divorced church members.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in white robes kneel near the altar in a brightly colored church with a teal and orange wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483824/original/file-20220910-16-okztdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bishop blesses worshippers during an early morning mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Yamumbi, Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/eldoret-catholic-bishop-dominic-kimengich-blesses-news-photo/1242496951?adppopup=true">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Polygamy continues to be a pressing issue in some regions of Africa. While <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P87.HTM">Catholic doctrine</a> prohibits polygamy, polygamous unions are still common in many countries with <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/01/07/pushed-politicians-polygamy-abounds-among-christians-kenya">significant Catholic communities</a>.</p>
<p>A crucial question is how to <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/african-bishop-polygamy-homosexuality-divorce-oh-my">welcome</a> polygamous families into the church. Some <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/17354/synod-for-africa-ponders-how-to-tackle-polygamy-meddling-by-foreign-interests">African bishops have suggested</a> that the church’s most important rites, called sacraments, <a href="https://www.cal-catholic.com/african-cardinal-asks-what-about-communion-for-polygamists/">should be available for at least some polygamous Catholics</a>.</p>
<p>Tribalism also remains a challenge. For example, a <a href="https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/nigeria-a-new-scandal-linked-to-tribalism-in-the-church/15693">Nigerian priest</a> published a social media video asserting the superiority of the <a href="https://minorityrights.org/minorities/igbo/">Igbo tribe</a>. In rejecting such attitudes, other African priests have emphasized that African Catholics should draw on the philosophy of “<a href="https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/what-might-africa-contribute-to-the-synod-on-synodality/14891">ubuntu</a>” that affirms collective belonging to humanity.</p>
<h2>Looking East</h2>
<p>Issues in Asia, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/">home to 12% of Catholics</a>, are diverse. </p>
<p>In Japan, for example, where Catholics make up less than 1% of the population, the main dilemma is how Catholics can maintain their <a href="https://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/2022/08/22/25226/">community identity</a>. In the Catholic-majority <a href="https://synodphilippines.com/">Philippines</a>, recent meetings for the Synod on Synodality have focused on <a href="https://cruxnow.com/cns/2022/07/philippine-bishops-pledge-to-prioritize-poor-following-synodal-consultation">how poverty and corruption</a> impact the Catholic community and the nation as a whole.</p>
<p>In India, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/modi-invites-pope-francis-visit-india-2021-10-30/">where 20 million Catholics live</a>, the Dalit Catholic community is especially important. Dalit means “oppressed” or “crushed” and refers to the marginalized groups once known as India’s “untouchables.” It was only recently that a Dalit, <a href="https://www.ucanews.com/news/indias-first-dalit-cardinal-opens-path-for-egalitarian-church/98537">Anthony Poola of Hyderabad</a>, was named a cardinal, even though Dalits have long made up a <a href="https://uscatholic.org/articles/201302/caste-off-the-plight-of-catholic-dalits-in-india/">majority</a> of India’s Catholics. <a href="http://www.cbci.in/DownloadMat/dalit-policy.pdf">Caste discrimination in the church</a> is a reality that Dalit Catholics have joined together <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/dalit-christians-protest-against-caste-discrimination-within-catholic-community/article65367394.ece">to protest</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in East Timor, where Catholics are 95% of the population, has experienced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/23/a-ticking-time-bomb-timor-leste-begins-to-reckon-with-alleged-catholic-church-sex-abuse">its own divisive sex abuse crisis</a> connected with a highly regarded <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/american-ex-priest-east-timor-found-guilty-sex-abuse">American priest</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a pink shirt and green sari touches a statue of the Virgin Mary covered with garlands of flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483825/original/file-20220910-20-wq2px9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catholics offer prayers in front of a statue of Virgin Mary in Hyderabad, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/catholic-devotees-offer-prayers-in-front-of-a-statue-of-news-photo/1243033358?adppopup=true">Noah Seelam/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Catholic churches in China face unresolved disputes over who has final say in the <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/11/17/china-vatican-agreement-rome-beijing-pope-francis-catholic">appointment of bishops</a> – the Vatican, or the Chinese government. Also, there are continuing issues about the status of the <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2006479/bad-faith-chinas-underground-catholics-wary-of-vatican-deal">underground Catholic churches</a>, which worship outside the purview of the state-sanctioned <a href="https://www.ucanews.com/news/chinese-bishop-pushing-clergy-into-patriotic-association/98299">Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association</a>.</p>
<p>In parts of Oceania, <a href="https://www.wn.catholic.org.nz/adw_welcom/oceania-bishops-concerned-about-climate-change-aids/">climate change</a> is an existential concern. The spread of HIV/AIDS <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/keywords/papua-new-guinea#:%7E:text=Papua%20New%20Guinea%20has%20the,65%25%20are%20on%20antiretroviral%20therapy.">in Papua New Guinea</a> remains an important issue as well.</p>
<h2>Stronghold no longer?</h2>
<p>Latin America is home to almost 40% of the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/">world’s Catholics</a>. But the <a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/dossiers-2021-1-page-1.htm">rise</a> of Protestantism has concerned many priests and laity. Many new Protestants in Latin America believe that evangelical and Pentecostal communities are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/14/why-has-pentecostalism-grown-so-dramatically-in-latin-america/">more sensitive</a> to their needs, <a href="https://qz.com/342810/why-the-catholic-church-is-losing-latin-america-and-how-its-trying-to-get-it-back/">prompting soul-searching</a> for Catholics.</p>
<p>Another crucial question in Latin America is <a href="http://secretariat.synod.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/final-document-of-the-amazon-synod.html">whether to ordain married men</a> in regions where priests are scarce, like the Amazon. The Catholic church in Latin America still struggles with its <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/culture-and-colonialism-church-and-state-latin-america">colonial past</a> and <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/pope-caught-up-in-dispute-over-spanish-colonial-legacy-1.4690079">calls to apologize</a> for that violent history. This legacy makes it particularly important to hear the voices of <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2021-05/celam-latin-american-bishops-general-assembly-synodality.html">Indigenous peoples</a>. </p>
<h2>A global conversation</h2>
<p>The worldwide <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/09/07/210907b.html">Synod on Synodality</a> is focused, in Pope Francis’ words, on creating a church that “<a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-10/pope-celebrating-synod-means-walking-together-on-the-same-road.html">walks together on the same road</a>.”</p>
<p>It would be a mistake to see this “walking together” from an exclusively Western perspective. The debate in Germany reflects <a href="https://religionunplugged.com/news/2022/4/7/catholic-bishops-gear-up-for-culture-war-while-trying-to-cement-pope-francis-legacy">how ideologically divided</a> Catholicism has become in the Western world alone. And it is not as though churches elsewhere are simply areas of potential problems or disagreements; their faith and rich theological traditions are an important resource for Catholics worldwide.</p>
<p>Still, given the cultural diversity of Catholicism, there are many potential flash points as the Synod on Synodality moves forward: poverty, adapting to local culture, sexuality and gender, church governance and the continuing sexual abuse crisis – just to name a few. </p>
<p>This has left some <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/tale-two-synods-what-will-german-and-roman-synodal-gatherings-accomplish">commentators</a> wondering if anything meaningful can be discussed or achieved. In my view, whether Synod conversations turn into controversies will ultimately depend on how Catholics see themselves as part of a church that is truly global.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Catholic Church’s membership numbers are growing fastest outside Europe and the Americas, and Catholics’ priorities look very different across the world.Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689372021-10-13T12:18:29Z2021-10-13T12:18:29ZWhat is the Synod of Bishops? A Catholic priest and theologian explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425740/original/file-20211011-17-x2ak7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=64%2C0%2C8433%2C5497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Catholic Church's two-year synodal process formally opened Oct. 10 at the Vatican.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Vatican%20Pope/da78131b93994825b22277ba88b343fa?Query=synod&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=now-14d&totalCount=15&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Oct. 10, 2021, Pope Francis formally opened a two-year process called “a synod on synodality,” officially known as “<a href="https://www.synod.va/en.html">Synod 2021-2023: For a Synodal Church</a>.” In brief, the process involves an expansion of an established institution, called the “Synod of Bishops.” This means that bishops around the world will consult with everyone from parishioners to monks, nuns and Catholic universities before coming together for a discussion in 2023. </p>
<p>The topic? How the church can learn to rely more fully on this kind of consultation-and-discussion process – how it can become more “synodal” in its governance.</p>
<p>Throughout the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has held many gatherings called “synods” – but seldom one this sweeping in its potential consequences.</p>
<p>As a Catholic priest <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/william-clark-sj">who studies theology</a>, with particular interest in the role of lay persons and of local communities in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=M_-tAI4AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&citft=1&citft=2&citft=3&email_for_op=waclarksj%40gmail.com&authuser=1&gmla=AJsN-F7pEi51zsZ8Vf00bGM-8qhA8CWEdM3nJTPXupX99niI3qwLMKmPvJoLSg5WP5N99Dk34MHTQ8qFkFeaJhPG4FMP62kA4b36PGNk37n9tvppQm3K4hSEJEJBgqhMgz15RUFGuCRtzKZ-Lcj3CqeqX6zzeysG6YsUpA2d4EvPVMyy5of7bLnSRLjrxzP1NV9IW-RvlRZURZ89k2PtkfXJGhn9zgbeX_ycPndcpE5ix5pecUHi_U4ne9BRuttbj384QEq-ln0C5E94aDaRDNqjyMEiSznjfg">the worldwide Catholic church</a>, I will be watching this synod carefully. In part, it is designed to make church governance more open and inclusive of all its members.</p>
<h2>Coming together</h2>
<p>Many people – even many practicing Catholics – may find the name “Synod on Synodality” and its purpose puzzling. What is a synod in the first place? </p>
<p>The word derives from an ancient Greek term that means “coming together” or “traveling together.” Ancient Christians <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html">developed a custom</a> of local leaders coming together to pray and make decisions about matters affecting all the Christian communities in a region. They gathered in the faith that their prayers and discussions would reveal God’s will and the way to achieve it. </p>
<p>These gatherings came to be called “synods” and began a tradition of regional synods for bishops, as well as larger ones called “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ecumenical-council">ecumenical councils</a>.” In principle, these were for all bishops around the world to discuss issues that were consequential for the whole church. </p>
<p>Over time, as the power of the papacy grew, ecumenical councils continued to be called, but regional synods diminished in importance. After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, such gatherings of Catholic bishops happened infrequently, and only with <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#CHAPTER_II.">express permission</a> of the Pope. Meanwhile, even ecumenical councils became rare – only two were held in 400 years.</p>
<p>The most recent one, the Second Vatican Council or “Vatican II,” met from 1962 to 1965 and launched <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674047495">important changes</a> in church law and structure. </p>
<p>One of Vatican II’s goals was to revitalize the importance of bishops as heads of their local churches and emphasize their cooperation with one another. As <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann330-367_en.html#Art._2.">a “college”</a> under the leadership of the pope, the bishops are mutually responsible for the governance of the whole church.</p>
<p>To assist this revitalization, Pope Paul VI created a permanent structure for a <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2019-10/what-is-synod-bishops-faq.html">Synod of Bishops</a>, with a secretariat in Rome and a General Assembly gathered regularly by the pope. Since 1967, the popes have brought this assembly together 18 times: 15 “Ordinary Assemblies” and three “Extraordinary,” in addition to a number of “Special Assemblies” involving particular regions of the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Bishop in green robes adjusts his hat at a mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425749/original/file-20211011-24-ylm6x5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bishop adjusts his hat, called a mitre, at a Vatican mass launching the two-year synod process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanPope/484154ac03424bb583ffe08f161898dd/photo?Query=synod&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=now-14d&totalCount=15&currentItemNo=12">AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>“A Church which listens”</h2>
<p>Pope Francis has shown special interest in the Synod of Bishops since the beginning of his papacy in 2013. The following year, he convened an “<a href="https://www.usccb.org/topics/marriage-and-family-life-ministries/2014-2015-synods-bishops-family">Extraordinary General Assembly</a>,” outside the usual three-year cycle, on “the vocation and mission of the family.” The assembly talked about controversial issues such as welcoming to communion couples living outside church-sanctioned marriages. These discussions continued into an “Ordinary Assembly” in 2015.</p>
<p>2015 also marked the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops established during Vatican II. At a ceremony for the anniversary, Francis gave <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html">a speech</a> that laid out his views <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/cardinal-tobin-synodality-pope-francis-vehicle-changing-church">on “synodality</a>. The word "synod,” he reminded the audience, is about cooperation.</p>
<p>“A synodal Church is a Church which listens,” he said, pointing out that mutual listening has been the goal of much of the church’s renewal since Vatican II.</p>
<p>“For the disciples of Jesus, yesterday, today and always, the only authority is the authority of service, the only power is the power of the cross,” Francis declared. </p>
<p>Since then, Francis has taken steps to give the church examples and a concrete framework for a more “synodal church.” In 2018, he issued <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/pope-francis-boosts-authority-of-the-synod-of-bishops">new regulations</a> that encourage much wider consultation with members and organizations of the church at all levels as part of the synod process. </p>
<p>And in 2019, he followed up a “Special Assembly” for bishops of the Amazon region with “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20200202_querida-amazonia.html">Querida Amazonia</a>,” a kind of papal document known as an “exhortation.” Here, he took the unusual steps of recognizing the authority of the synod’s own final document and referring important structural and procedural changes to their continuing work in their home churches, rather than to intervention by the Vatican.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<h2>Preparing for 2023</h2>
<p>The current “<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249241/2023-synod-on-synodality-pope-francis-launches-2-year-synodal-path-with-call-to-encounter-listen-and-discern">Synod on Synodality</a>” is the culmination of all this effort to bring a greater degree of openness, collaboration and mutual listening to the church. Unlike previous synods, this one officially begins in dioceses all over the world, with opportunities for mutual consultation at every level and among many different church organizations.</p>
<p>When the General Assembly meets in 2023, its task will be to prayerfully consider how to move forward as “<a href="https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/document/common/vademecum/Vademecum-EN-A4.pdf">a more synodal Church in the long-term</a>” – a church that “journeys together.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168937/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Clark does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pope Francis formally opened a two-year process called a “synod on synodality” for the Catholic Church on Oct. 10.William Clark, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1251232019-10-18T11:25:27Z2019-10-18T11:25:27ZPope affirms Catholic Church’s duty to indigenous Amazonians hurt by climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297533/original/file-20191017-98657-15dqz3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5161%2C3466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis at the start of the Amazon synod, at the Vatican, Oct. 7, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Vatican-Amazon/d61fa641686a4b5692f0d8ac6d23fe22/20/0">AP Photo/Andrew Medichini</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Catholic Church “hears the cry” of the Amazon and its peoples. That’s the message Pope Francis hopes to send at the <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signs-times/controversy-mixes-consensus-bishops-gather-amazon-synod">Synod of the Amazon</a>, a three-week meeting at the Vatican that ends Oct. 27. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/amazon-synod-briefing-synthesis.html">Images from Rome</a> show tribal leaders in traditional feather headdresses alongside Vatican officials in their regalia. They are gathered with hundreds of bishops, priests, religious sisters and missionaries to discuss the pastoral, cultural and ecological struggles of the Amazon. </p>
<p>The densely forested region spans nine South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Its more than <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/basins/amazon/index.stm">23 million</a> inhabitants include <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/amazonsynod2019">3 million indigenous people</a>.</p>
<p>The Amazon meeting is part of Pope Francis’s efforts to build a “<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html">Church which listens</a>.” Since <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-succession-bergoglio/argentinas-pope-a-modest-man-focused-on-the-poor-idUSBRE92C15X20130313r">taking office in 2013</a>, Francis has revitalized the Catholic Church’s practice of “synods” – a Greek word meaning “council” – expanding <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040563917698561">decision-making in the church</a> beyond <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/expect-north-american-church-learn-pan-amazonian-synod">the Vatican bureaucracy</a> to gather input from the entire church, including <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-asks-wide-input-2015-synod-not-based-doctrine">from laypeople</a>. </p>
<p>Voting on synod decisions, however, remains restricted to bishops and some male clergy. </p>
<p>The Amazon synod is the first such meeting to be organized for a specific <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/amazonsynod2019">ecological region</a>. Media coverage of this event has emphasized its more controversial debates – such as the possibility of <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html">easing celibacy requirements in the rural Amazon</a>, where priests are in extremely short supply. </p>
<p>But its focus is much broader: listening to the suffering of the Amazon – particularly the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-is-burning-4-essential-reads-on-brazils-vanishing-rainforest-122288">environmental challenges facing the region</a> – and discerning how to respond as a global church.</p>
<h2>Amazon in crisis</h2>
<p>After more than a decade of environmental policies that successfully slowed deforestation in the Amazon, logging and agricultural clearing have begun to increase rapidly again. The fires in the Brazilian rainforest that captured headlines in early September are <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-brazils-rainforests-the-worst-fires-are-likely-still-to-come-122840">symptoms of much broader destruction</a>.</p>
<p>Up to 17% of the Amazon rainforest has already been eliminated – dangerously close to the 20% to 40% <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-deforestation-and-warming-push-the-amazon-to-a-tipping-point?">tipping point that experts say</a> would lead the entire ecosystem to collapse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C17%2C3982%2C2640&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297420/original/file-20191016-98657-1m0nmkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deforestation of the Amazon is rapidly approaching the tipping point that, experts say, could lead to total collapse of the rainforest ecosystem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/The-Week-That-Was-in-Latin-America-Photo-Gallery/fab4592faf364ff088bd97701d8d4c99/25/0">AP Photo/Leo Correa</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stories of deforestation can seem insignificant against the vastness of the Amazon, a region two-thirds the size of the lower 48 United States. </p>
<p>But for the <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/synod-for-the-amazon/synod-for-the-amazon.html">390 indigenous ethnic groups</a> who inhabit the region, each burned forest grove, polluted stream or flooded dam site may mark the end of a way of life that’s survived for thousands of years.</p>
<p>Deprived of their land, many indigenous Amazonians are forced into an exposed life on the edge of frontier towns, where they are prey to <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html">sex trafficking, slave labor and violence</a>. In Brazil alone, at least <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html">1,119 indigenous people have been killed</a> defending their land since 2003. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church recognizes that it still has to address the “<a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html">open wound</a>” of its own <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/09/17/synod-for-the-amazon-about-more-than-married-priests/">role in the colonial-era violence that first terrorized the indigenous peoples</a> of the Americas, according to the synod’s working document. The church legitimated the colonial confiscation of lands occupied by indigenous peoples and its missionaries often <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-pope-has-yet-to-overturn-the-churchs-colonial-legacy-39622">suppressed indigenous cultures and religions</a>.</p>
<p>For this reason, according to the Vatican, organizers of the synod have sought input through <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-amazon-synod-by-the-numbers-11205">260 listening events</a> held in the region that reached nearly 87,000 people over the past two years. Indigenous leaders have been invited as observer participants in the meeting itself.</p>
<h2>Learning from indigenous peoples</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-theological-and-ecological-vision-of-laudato-si-9780567673176/">theologian</a> who studies religious responses to the environmental crisis, I find the pope’s effort to learn from the indigenous people of the Amazon noteworthy.</p>
<p>The Vatican sees that the Amazon’s traditional residents know something much of humanity has long forgotten: how to live in ecological harmony with the environment.</p>
<p>“To the aboriginal communities we owe their thousands of years of care and cultivation of the Amazon,” the 58-page <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html">synod working document</a> reads. “In their ancestral wisdom they have nurtured the conviction that all of creation is connected, and this deserves our respect and responsibility.” </p>
<p>Pope Francis has expressed his respect for indigenous peoples before. </p>
<p>At a meeting of indigenous leaders in <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2018/january/documents/papa-francesco_20180119_peru-puertomaldonado-popoliamazzonia.html">Peru in January 2018</a> he said, “Your lives cry out against a style of life that is oblivious to its own real cost. You are a living memory of the mission that God has entrusted to us all: the protection of our common home.”</p>
<h2>Global problems, local solutions</h2>
<p>Environmental destruction isn’t the synod’s only concern.</p>
<p>Catholicism – long the dominant religion in Latin America – is rapidly losing members to evangelical Protestantism. Evangelicals are projected to eclipse Catholics in Brazil by <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2019/09/03/evangelical-missions-a-major-threat-to-amazon-culture-catholic-leaders-say/">2032</a>.</p>
<p>One advantage evangelical churches have in Amazonian countries is that they can appoint local indigenous pastors to minister to their communities. Meanwhile, with <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html">less than one priest per 8,000 Catholics</a> in the Amazon, some isolated communities might see a priest only once a year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297421/original/file-20191016-98661-zhf4r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catholic churches are in short supply in rural Brazil, where many people will go a year without seeing a priest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Amazon-Priest-Shortages/0ce25eeb08724004a564058db280c247/5/0">AP Photo/Fernando Vergara</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scarcity of priests in rural Latin America is behind a proposal to the synod to <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html">ordain older married men as priests in isolated Amazonian communities</a>. </p>
<p>In the the U.S., the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-views-on-priestly-celibacy-changed-in-christian-history-102158">celibacy question</a> is easily mapped onto a <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/editorial-status-quo-wont-save-planet-or-catholic-church">familiar divide</a>. Progressive Catholics argue that clerical celibacy should be optional, while conservative Catholics insist this discipline is fundamental to the faith. </p>
<p>The issue is far less politicized in the Amazon, where, in the words of one bishop, the Catholic Church remains a “<a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2019/09/03/evangelical-missions-a-major-threat-to-amazon-culture-catholic-leaders-say/">visiting church</a>” with limited day-to-day presence in indigenous communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/10/04/a-high-noon-moment-for-pope-francis-over-the-amazon">Some</a> might dismiss this synod as just a meeting. But, in my judgment, it is an attempt to apply Francis’ vision of a “listening Church” to the environmental crisis. The Synod of the Amazon marks a significant shift from high-minded papal exhortations about taking climate action to a global religious community that gives voice to those living on the front lines of ecological destruction. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent J. Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hundreds of bishops, priests, missionaries and tribal leaders are at the Vatican for the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting focused on the environmental crisis threatening Amazonian peoples.Vincent J. Miller, Professor of Religious Studies, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/514112015-11-30T05:51:11Z2015-11-30T05:51:11ZReading of the banns: how the church tried to perfect the institution of marriage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103466/original/image-20151127-11597-b8ks7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Perfected!</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Conny Sjostrom/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="http://gu.com/p/4efkx/sbl">proposal</a> to replace the legal requirement of the reading of banns before church weddings with a civil process has been put forward at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-church-of-england-is-trying-to-make-itself-relevant-again-51215">Church of England synod</a>. The law requiring marriage banns to be read out aloud on three consecutive Sundays prior to marriage was introduced by the Catholic Church 800 years ago (almost to the day).</p>
<p>But how did this tradition come about? The reading of banns were an important step forward in the development of the institution of marriage and has been an indispensable part of marriage in Western Europe since then.</p>
<p>In ancient Roman times not everyone had equal marriage rights. If you were a slave you had neither the right to choose whether to marry nor to choose your partner. If you were allowed to marry your owner still had the power to station your spouse in another location even if it was in the other end of the Empire. He didn’t need to show any consideration towards your children and could employ them when and where he wanted: slaves were simply regarded as we would farm animals or machines today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103477/original/image-20151127-11618-xur7wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carthage mosaic showing two slaves attending their mistress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Rome#/media/File:Carthage_museum_mosaic_1.jpg">Fabien Dany</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This unequal state of affairs changed with the introduction of Christianity. In the words of St Paul, Christians were neither “Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female”. Though it took time, the Christian church therefore sought to extend the right to marry to all believers.</p>
<p>By the eighth century it was a principle of the Christian church that everyone had the right to marry. This was a significant move forward from the situation in which the marriages of the unfree – peasants who held their land in return for cultivating it – was open to challenge in courts of law. </p>
<p>But theologians continued to debate the function that marriage served in man’s journey towards salvation. St Augustine, the fourth-century bishop of Hippo in North Africa, had established that for those who could not live a celibate life being married was essential to being Christian. In the words of a later (12th-century) theologian, marriage “removed the stain of sin from sexual intercourse and made that lifelong union happy and pleasant”. These considerations meant that soon marriage was not only made possible for all; it was encouraged.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103475/original/image-20151127-11640-olkir5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jaume Huguet, Consecration of Saint Augustine.</span>
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</figure>
<h2>Defining marriage</h2>
<p>So, from around the 12th century, theologians, lawyers and popes set about making it as easy as possible to enter into marriage (and as difficult as possible to dissolve it). But while priests, preachers, and theologians dedicated their time to broadcasting the church’s ideology of marriage, it also became necessary to neatly define what marriage actually was. So it fell to the lawyers to provide a working definition that allowed everyone to enter into marriage with the minimum amount of fuss.</p>
<p>In the middle of the 12th century, Gratian, a teacher of law in Bologna, published what can best be described as the <a href="http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/00025315.pdf">first academic textbook</a> in the law of the Catholic Church. Although his solution was cumbersome, Gratian managed to reconcile the many contradictory texts which dealt with the thorny question of when marriage became legally binding. </p>
<p>He took his starting point in the nature of the words that spouses exchanged when they married. These words, he argued, initiated marriage, but marriage was only perfected by “a mingling of the sexes”. Gratian left the meaning of this phrase open to interpretation but made it clear that sexual intercourse was only one among several ways to perfect a marriage.</p>
<h2>Achieving perfection</h2>
<p>Though it was a good starting point for discussions by university law students, Gratian’s definition of marriage created serious problems in practice. Gratian did not define what constituted “perfection”. This meant it was extremely difficult to prove that a marriage had been perfected in a court of law. </p>
<p>Proof normally consisted in the evidence of two independent witnesses to the exchange of vows and to the “perfection” of the marriage, but even if the court could find witnesses to these two events, it remained unclear what would happen if one spouse died in between the initiation and the perfection of marriage. University scholars across Europe proposed several different solutions to the problem in the latter half of the 12th century, but it was not until the reign of Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) that an answer was promoted with papal authority.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103478/original/image-20151127-11624-1vajbab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pope Alexander III.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alexander III decided to follow the recommendations of scholars at the University of Paris and ruled that marriage was created simply when spouses both said they were married. No priest, no witnesses and no ceremonies were required. Alexander III’s decision marks the high water mark of easy access to marriage. This rule – that you contracted marriage by speaking the marriage vows – continued in England until Lord Hardwick’s <a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Eframland/acts/1753.htm">marriage act in 1753.</a> </p>
<p>To many clerics and lawyers this all felt a bit too easy, so it was felt that something was needed to safeguard marriages contracted by words alone. In attempt to do so the Fourth Lateran Council <a href="http://www.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/368/texts/council.html">passed the rules in 1215</a> which required the reading of banns in church on three consecutive Sundays. In doing so, the council introduced a final principle: marriage was not just a matter between individuals but an institution that was protected by the community. The fact that you were legally able to marry – that you were marrying of your own free will, that you were not already married, that you were not too closely related, and that you were old enough to make the decision to marry – was guaranteed and testified to by every member of the local community. </p>
<p>The reading out of marriage banns may seem a bit archaic and so it’s perhaps understandable that there’s talk of them being scrapped. But what they stand for – the principle of community involvement in every marriage – is enshrined and continued still, in local registry offices publicly displaying notices of intentions to marry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frederik Pedersen received funding from Carlsbergfondet to research medieval marriage disputes 1985-92. </span></em></p>The requirement for marriage banns was introduced 800 years ago (almost to the day). Now there’s talk of scrapping them.Frederik Pedersen, Senior Lecturer in History, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/499762015-11-02T13:33:16Z2015-11-02T13:33:16ZWhy family and marriage remain so central to the Catholic Church<p>Given the media attention around the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34629539">Catholic Church’s latest synod</a> on the family, with its rumours of <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/584214/could-pope-francis-break-apart-catholic-church">schism</a>, <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2015/10/12/top-cardinals-send-sharp-warning-letter-pope-francis-reforms/">plots</a>, and the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/priest-with-vatican-ties-sacked-for-being-gay">self-outing of a gay Vatican priest</a> with his partner, one might think that the whole event was scripted by Umberto Echo or Dan Brown. But its effects, which reinforce much of the Church’s teaching on the family, may prove long-lasting.</p>
<p>Despite reports <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/23/pope-francis-fails-to-persuade-majority-of-bishops-remarried-catholics-synod-family">saying otherwise</a>, the Pope’s office has not been undermined. It is being used in a fresh, dynamic way, to give space to the complex plurality of experience and meaning about the spiritual and religious realities of marriage and family life. This is particularly relevant given the shifting social, economic, political and cultural circumstances. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church is a global reality, with roots in the cultures of many nations and peoples. It is a major provider of education, healthcare, assistance to refugees and other marginalised and vulnerable groups. It has a special and lasting commitment to the poor, vulnerable and displaced. So, the church’s understanding and approach to such fundamental social and human institutions as marriage and family will have impact. </p>
<h2>The role of the synod</h2>
<p>A synod has no real analogue in secular society. It is a meeting of bishops gathered to determine some aspect of the faith or discipline of the Catholic Church. No doubt such meetings will entail a fair amount of politics, but bishops in the church are not politicians or representatives, like elected members of local councils or parliaments.</p>
<p>Their primary responsibility is to preserve the truth and vitality of the Christ’s revelations, and the integrity, mission, and unity of the church. The bishops are also called to have a special care for those who are poor and vulnerable in and beyond the Christian community.</p>
<p>Since the second Vatican Council in 1962-65 international synods of bishops have become a regular part of the church’s process of reflection and renewal. The process is not only one of deliberation and debate but essentially one of discernment: a desire to discover and co-operate with God’s action in the community of faith and in the world. </p>
<h2>A collegial way of leading</h2>
<p>One of the most important and innovative aspects of this synod on the family is way in which Pope Francis, who summoned it, has listened and contributed. There was a free “space” for the debate and encounter, for arguments and difference. Yet, he has not let the synod forget that it is also experiencing and implementing a process of discernment. </p>
<p>However this synod is ultimately judged, it marks a significant change in the role of the Papacy within the church and the way it fosters the reality of “collegiality” – the collective and shared nature of the church’s leadership.</p>
<p>The synod was well prepared both in content and process by the Pope who skillfully opened up the <a href="https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/october/documents/papa-francesco_20141018_conclusione-sinodo-dei-vescovi.html">theme in 2014</a> with the extraordinary assembly of bishops and a wide process of consultation. He combined this with strong signals that the church needed to review its pastoral practice in supporting families – particularly those who found themselves divorced and remarried and therefore formally excluded from receiving holy communion. </p>
<p>The Pope emphasised the need to promote the family and its privileged place is society, especially when under pressure from movements in the economy and the resulting social upheaval. In September, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11850288/Pope-Francis-to-help-Catholics-remarry-by-speeding-up-annulment-process.html">he also announced</a> the streamlining of the church’s procedures for annulling marriages, or declaring them invalid from the start. This is so that people, rather than waiting for a length of time – years in some instance – are not denied their right to a speedy judgement.</p>
<h2>An institution to stand up to all others</h2>
<p>The synod ended with the publication of a final document, Part One, <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2015/10/24/0816/01825.html">La Chiesa in Ascolto Della Famiglia</a> (The Church listening to the Family) attempts to understand the diversity, energy, and importance of family as a real and necessary human and social good. It is not naive about the personal as well socio-economic problems that people have to face. </p>
<p>It recognises that “family” is also a changing reality with a wide range of expressions and meanings. Yet, the family is enduringly resilient and adaptable, especially in times of crisis: its bonds not only support us, they locate us even when we leave or reject them. An often overlooked aspect of the church’s commitment to the family is its perception of the family as the personal space or sanctuary from the intrusive and over reaching tendencies of the State. The family is the first great bulwark against totalitarian systems whatever way they manifest themselves. </p>
<p>The church has never wavered in its defence of the family, not in opposition to social progress but as essential to its achievement. In Europe and North America we have been experimenting with the practice and meaning of marriage and family for some time. It is too easy to dismiss the church as out of step – holding on to a simplified past rather than embracing a liberal, complex future. </p>
<p>If Pope Francis has changed the context, at least for the church, the synod has contributed to a deepened understanding of what marriage and family means beyond the recent debates in Europe and the West. </p>
<p>Apart from a comprehensive sketch of the different dimensions and circumstances of family and marriage life, the synod has also viewed it within a teleological perspective: what is the ultimate purpose of marriage and family and what is the final good to which they are directed? Contemporary culture is suspicious of such a teleological approach, but in Catholic thought it allows for a much fuller and less reductionist understanding of human beings and the societies that we are attempting to create. </p>
<p>In its final report, the synod offers questions and challenges which can only serve the much more sustained reflection that we all need to have if we are to create and shape a richer, healthier, human and social ecology. The synod submitted its report to Pope Francis who will use it in fashioning his own fuller response. It will be interesting to see what he does with it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Hanvey Is The Master of Campion Hall, University of Oxford, a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a male religious order of the Catholic Church.</span></em></p>The recent synod of bishops reinforced the church’s teaching that the family is enduringly resilient and adaptable, especially in times of crisis.James Hanvey, Fellow in Theology and Master, Campion Hall, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/330662014-10-21T09:58:02Z2014-10-21T09:58:02ZThe tectonic plates of world Catholicism shift<p>An extraordinary two weeks in Rome ended Saturday with a standing ovation. Pope Francis had invited 191 bishops and clergy to the Synod on the family to speak their minds on issues such as divorce, premarital cohabitation and homosexuality and they did. </p>
<p>Pope Francis’s invitation to bishops was to “speak clearly. No one must say, ‘this can’t be done.’” This was a big gamble. But the result is a victory for him. True, the final report is markedly less open to the aforementioned “irregular” situations that many had hoped for. But it is also clear that a stable majority of the bishops in Rome is on his side if we look at the <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2014/10/18/gays-missing-final-message-vaticans-heated-debate-family/">vote tally</a> of October 18. </p>
<p>Bishops are aware of the challenges to the so-called traditional model of the Catholic family and acutely aware that these challenges are not going to disappear. In this sense, the Catholic church of 2014 seems very far from that of Francis’s predecessors. What we are witnessing is an acceleration of Church history – something similar to the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162573716/why-is-vatican-ii-so-important">Second Vatican Council</a> 50 years ago.</p>
<p>What took place over the two weeks of the Synod was a genuine debate between competing ideas of what the church’s relationship ought to be with modern culture, the sexual revolution, and gender identity. But above all what these two weeks have revealed, for the first time, is a tectonic shift – a movement in the plates that make up the map of the Catholic world. </p>
<h2>A new map of the Catholic world</h2>
<p>In this new map Europe and Latin America are at the forefront of the new openness. On the other hand, North America, Africa, and in general English-speaking Catholics are more inclined to hone to a firm countercultural line, refusing to evolve the doctrine and pastoral practice of the church with regard to marriage and family. Asia presents a more complex picture, although the Cardinal from Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, for example, was one of the leaders of Francis’s majority. </p>
<p>These are new alliances. Until the Second Vatican Council – the most important church reform since the 16th century – it was the European churches and their theological traditions that had the leading role. The churches built by missionaries may have been important participants but they were not able to build a strong opposition to the Europeans. Not anymore.</p>
<p>This October the strongest objections to the German bishops’ proposed welcome to gay and divorced Catholics came from the representatives of English-speaking Catholics from the United States, Africa, and Australia. Their opposition was carefully planned even before the Synod as one can see from the long paper trail of interviews, op-eds and <a href="http://www.ignatius.com/Products/RTC-P/remaining-in-the-truth-of-christ.aspx">books</a> laid down by Cardinal Raymond Burke (USA) and Cardinal George Pell (Australia). Once in Rome they argued with the Europeans in a way that has created a new sense of self-awareness in their churches back home. </p>
<h2>The ‘exceptional’ American church</h2>
<p>There are different reasons for the creation of these new alliances. In Africa opposition to a post-modern understanding of sexuality is rooted in deep cultural differences with Europe. For the US in particular, marriage and family have an iconic role shaped by the history of the American frontier. </p>
<p>Until Vatican II, American Catholicism was on the progressive side of history, in a church still filled with cultural optimism. The church and Christianity were then part of mainstream culture. Then came the 60s, the new legislation on abortion, divorce, and more recently same-sex marriage. The Catholic church felt pushed to take a countercultural stance. The legacy of the Second Vatican Council became a contested narrative and captive of the “cultural wars” of these past 30 years. </p>
<p>All this is part of a much bigger change in what can be called the neo-conservative turn of a number of prominent lay leaders of English-speaking Catholicism. Taking part in the public debate through such publications as <a href="http://www.firstthings.com/">First Things</a> (founded in 1990), they have voiced growing criticism of the welfare state in domestic politics; have endorsed the 2003 war in Iraq; and have been fiercely opposed to legislation regulating abortion and same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>The election to the papacy of a Latin-American bishop like Jorge Mario Bergoglio who does not adhere to any one political ideology has set different experiences of Catholicism in different parts of the world on a collision course. </p>
<p>When the Pope speaks about economic and social justice and the international financial system, Africa and America are on opposite sides of the argument. But on the issue of family values, Africa and America have built an alliance, and there is no doubt that, in the contemporary role of churches in the social and political debate, marriage and family play a particular role. </p>
<p>Unlike their neighbors to the north, Latin American Catholics have left behind the dream of building a “Christian nation” and have become convinced, like European Catholics, that it is time to adapt to changed social conditions.</p>
<p>It is interesting to see how a deeply traditional Catholic such as Pope Francis has unsettled the culture of important sectors of Anglo-Saxon Catholicism – in the US in particular. After 35 years of pro-American popes such as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the Vatican and the US need to rebuild a lost harmony. </p>
<p>This now is the “American problem” of Pope Francis: the first pope after World War II with virtually no contact with the USA and its cultural empire, partly because of the difficult relationship between the US and its Latin American backyard and partly because of the personal background of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Francis has never been to the US. His English is not as fluent as that of his predecessors. This is going to be a crucial challenge for Francis and the future of Christianity. </p>
<p>America and the so-called global south are placed at the intersection of two worlds. In one corner there is the Christian West, where there has been a loss of faith in God and loss of trust in the power of human reason or what the Italian philosopher <a href="http://www.filosofico.net/giannivattimo.htm">Gianni Vattimo</a> calls “weak thought.” In the rest of the world there is a resurgence of religious belief or as French political scientist <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gilles-kepel/the-revenge-of-god/">Gilles Kepel</a> has dubbed it, “the revenge of God.” In this sense, the 2014 Synod is the dawn of a new era in the history of the Catholic church.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Massimo Faggioli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An extraordinary two weeks in Rome ended Saturday with a standing ovation. Pope Francis had invited 191 bishops and clergy to the Synod on the family to speak their minds on issues such as divorce, premarital…Massimo Faggioli, Assistant Professor of Theology , University of St. ThomasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/325672014-10-15T19:25:35Z2014-10-15T19:25:35ZPope sets off a ‘gay earthquake’? No, the church has hardly moved<p>A <a href="http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/13/0751/03037.html">report of debate</a> from the first half of the extraordinary synod of Catholic bishops meeting in Rome has been described as a <a href="http://www.johnthavis.com/a-pastoral-earthquake-at-the-synod#.VDyTj6PGyLo">“pastoral earthquake”</a> and a <a href="http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/seismic-shift-in-rome-new-catholic-church-document-praises-committed-gay-an">“seismic shift in Rome”</a> for praising gay relationships. </p>
<p>Despite these headlines, no changes to the church’s position on sex, marriage and the family were announced. In contrast, the document actually reveals Pope Francis’ strategy to convert homosexuals, unmarried couples and divorcees to the true Catholic faith.</p>
<p>For more than a decade now, scholars of religion have been analysing the relationship between the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and the decline of faith in western nations. Callum Brown, for example, <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Death_of_Christian_Britain.html?id=eMvy_kncEa0C&redir_esc=y">has argued</a> that secularisation in Britain was caused by women abandoning Christian sexual morality in the 1960s and ceasing to pass on their faith to their children.</p>
<h2>Responding to a generational loss of faith</h2>
<p>In calling an extraordinary meeting of the synod to discuss the family, the Pope has recognised this link between sexual liberation and secularisation (although in reverse order to Brown). The synod’s <em>relatio post disceptationem</em>, its interim report, states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the crisis of faith has led to a crisis in matrimony and the family and, as a result, the transmission of faith from parents to children has often been interrupted. The purpose of the Synod is to respond to this crisis in the perpetuation of the faith.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is in the light of this evangelistic imperative that the report’s positive statements about homosexuality, unmarried couples and remarried divorcees must be understood. </p>
<p>As the report puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Church turns respectfully to those who participate in her life in an incomplete and imperfect way, appreciating the positive values they contain rather than their limitations and shortcomings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So it affirms the positive elements of the relationships of unmarried straight couples and couples who have remarried without having previous marriages annulled. For remarried divorcees, it raises the question whether they could be re-admitted to communion after a suitable period of discipline. </p>
<p>The report notes that homosexuals “have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community”. It questions whether the church is capable of “accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony”. It also recognises that homosexual relationships could embody elements of Christian virtue and that the church needs to attend to the needs of the children of same-sex couples.</p>
<p>The document thus reflects and continues the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pope-francis-who-am-i-to-judge-gays/story-e6frg6so-1226687880000?nk=e9b90e21bb5a0cab63dd2b93044e2f97">conciliatory approach</a> that Pope Francis has taken throughout his papacy to those on the fringes of the church, particularly sexual dissidents. It is a sharp contrast to his predecessors, who emphasised the negative elements of those who fell short of the church’s sexual ideal.</p>
<h2>A change in emphasis, not doctrine</h2>
<p>But the question remains: what has actually changed? </p>
<p>In short, the answer is nothing substantive. The <em>relatio</em> is merely a report of proceedings. No decisions will be made at this synod.</p>
<p>We will have to wait until the ordinary synod of bishops in October 2015 for more definitive statements.</p>
<p>The way in which the Vatican publicly frames discussions of sexuality has undergone a pastoral shift in emphasis. This has won enthusiastic praise from gay lobby groups. </p>
<p>Conservatives in the synod, on the other hand, have expressed discomfort with Pope Francis’ pastoral turn. They question whether there should not be greater emphasis in their discussions on sin and on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/raymond-burke-gay-relationships_n_5967198.html">homosexuality as being “intrinsically disordered”</a>.</p>
<p>But although its emphasis is positive, the synod report does not mark any doctrinal shift on sexuality in general, or the sinfulness of homosexual sex in particular. It repeatedly affirms that permanent, heterosexual marriage is the church’s ideal and any deviations from this are imperfect. It also unambiguously reaffirms its opposition to “artificial” birth control. </p>
<p>While it is nice that this Pope is not saying mean things about gays and divorcees, I doubt this qualifies as a “seismic shift” or an <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/10/earthquake-in-rome-as-vatican-changes-its-line-on-homosexuality-and-divorce/">“earthquake in Rome”</a>. </p>
<p>The clear purpose of the synod is to respond to conflicts between the church’s standards and contemporary global sexual practices. But there is no indication that their response will be to reverse church doctrine and approve of homosexuality, divorce, sex outside of marriage, or birth control. Rather, their goal is to convert gays, divorcees and fornicators and bring them back to the Church and the Church’s sexual ideals:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All these situations have to be dealt with in a constructive manner, seeking to transform them into opportunities to walk towards the fullness of marriage and the family in the light of the Gospel. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I’m not sure that this shift from “stick” to “carrot” in the Catholic Church’s evangelisation efforts can or should be measured on the Richter scale.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.</span></em></p>A report of debate from the first half of the extraordinary synod of Catholic bishops meeting in Rome has been described as a “pastoral earthquake” and a “seismic shift in Rome” for praising gay relationships…Timothy W. Jones, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.