2023-10-28 21:41:06
The World Synod of the Catholic Church comes to an end on Sunday after three and a half weeks with a large service in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The mass will be led by Pope Francis. The deliberations ended on Saturday evening without any concrete demands for reform. The participants adopted a final declaration that remained rather vague on controversial points. There will be another meeting like this in October next year.
The World Synod is considered one of the Pope’s most important projects. For the first time, among the approximately 350 participants with the right to vote were Catholic laypeople, including around 50 women. However, the vast majority still consists of bishops. Most representatives of German Catholics hoped for signals that the church would be willing to reform. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Salzburg Archbishop Franz Lackner are taking part from Austria, and the Linz pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar is among the invited – non-voting – experts and theological advisors.
The synthesis paper from the four-week deliberations, which was passed with an overwhelming majority on Saturday evening, represents a roadmap for the church for the period up to the next synod in autumn 2024 “and far beyond,” Schönborn said on Saturday evening in an interview with Austrian media representatives in Rome, according to Kathpress. The cardinal emphasized that he was not taking home a paper from the synod, but above all an experience of togetherness that he had “not experienced in the church for a long time.” And he wanted to pass on this experience of a synodal church.
Schönborn once again praised the Synod’s discussion method, which had an “incredible effect” with its strong emphasis on listening and responding to what was heard. “The fact that all these issues were put on the table openly and freely and without fear of each other. I have never experienced that in this form before,” he said.
The cardinal also reiterated the important importance of the new presence of women in the synodal assembly. That had a big impact on the consultations and “makes a really big difference”.
At the synod, “a lot was discussed, there were no bans on speaking,” Archbishop Lackner reported to Kathpress about the deliberations. Thematically, from the first phases of the World Synod, which took place at the level of the local churches and continents, “a lot was brought back that is also on the table,” Lackner recalled – “and that has not been swept away.”
The chairman of the bishops’ conference described the synodal attitude that had been practiced as central. “The question is: How does it all fit together?” Here we have to broaden our perspective, look at the whole of the universal church, bring in things for change, but also make sure that the church does not lose its connection to its origins and listen to the Holy Spirit. “And that is the task of all of us and not just Rome’s,” Lackner added.
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