Just weeks before the beginning of the second session on the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis spoke to Jesuit clergy during his visit to Asia and Oceania.
On Sep. 11, the day he arrived in Singapore, he met with members of his religious order, one of whom asked about the pontiff’s vision of the Church of the future in light of synodality.
“The synod we are conducting is on synodality,” Francis said about the synod taking place in Rome Oct. 2-27.
“The Synod of Bishops was born from an insight of St. Paul VI, because the Western Church had lost the dimension of synodality, while the Eastern Church had preserved it. St. Paul VI, at the end of the Council, created the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops so that all bishops would have a synodal dimension of dialogue,” the pope continued in remarks published this week in La Civiltà Cattolica.
“ In 2001 I was at the Synod of Bishops. I was collecting the material and arranging it. The secretary of the synod would go through it and say to take out this or that item that had been approved by vote of the various groups. There were things that he didn’t think were appropriate, and he would say to me, ‘No, there’ll be no vote on that, no vote on this.’ It was not understood what a synod was, in short,” he continued.
“Another issue is whether only bishops or also priests, lay people or women can vote. In this synod, this is the first time women can vote. What does this mean? That there has been a development to live out this synodality,” Francis said.
“And this is a grace from the Lord, because synodality has to be achieved not only at the level of the universal Church, but also in the local Churches, in parishes, in educational institutions. Synodality is a value of the Church at all levels. It has been a very good journey. This involves another thing, the ability to discern. Synodality is a grace of the Church. It is not democracy. It is something else, and it requires discernment,” he said.
Several observers have expressed concern that a Synod on Synodality is almost by definition emblematic of the “self-referential” Church Francis spoke about before his election to the pontificate. The then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said in 2013 the Church is suffering from self-centeredness and “theological narcissism.”
In his speech to the other cardinals ahead of the conclave, he said the Church needs to head “to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: The mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery.”
Some commentators have noted the issues being looked at ahead of this year’s Synod include increasing the power of bishops’ conferences, allowing women more access to seminaries, and establishing a new “ministry of listening and accompaniment.”
Although Francis seems to have taken contentious issues such as women’s ordination and allowing some sort of recognition of homosexuality off the table, many observers say the synod is focused more on the concerns of Western society, as opposed to the real issues facing the Church in the developing world.
Although not speaking directly about synodality in his Sep. 4 meeting with Indonesian Jesuits in Jakarta, Francis touched on some of the issues many Catholics in the developing world want more discussed at the Synod, including the persecution of Christians.
When asked about his advice for those being persecuted for their Faith, Francis recalled the case of Asia Bibi, who was left in prison for almost 10 years in Pakistan.
“I think that the Christian’s path is always one of ‘martyrdom’ – that is, of witnessing. One needs to bear witness with prudence and with courage. These are two elements that go together, and it is up to each person to find his or her own way,” he said.
Speaking about Bibi, Francis noted he met her daughter, who secretly took Communion to her.
“She gave courageous testimony for so many years. Onward with courageous prudence! Prudence always takes risks when it is courageous. Instead, pusillanimous prudence has a small heart,” he said.
He also said he wanted the Jesuits to make a noise, saying scripture says the Holy Spirit leads to “uproar.”
“This, in short, is the way to deal with important issues. Remember that Jesuits must be in the most difficult places, where it is least easy to act. It is our way of ‘going above and beyond’ for the greater glory of God. To make good noise guided by the Spirit, we must pray, pray a lot,” he said.
Then he mentioned Father Pedro Arrupe, who led the Jesuits from 1965 until 1983, before his death in 1991.
“Father Arrupe wanted the Jesuits to work with refugees – a difficult apostolate at the frontier – and he expressed this by asking them first and foremost for one thing: prayer, more prayer,” Francis said.
“His last speech, which he gave in Bangkok, was his testament addressed to the Jesuits. He said that only in prayer do we find the strength and inspiration to deal with social injustice. Look also at the lives of Francis Xavier, Matteo Ricci and so many other Jesuits; they were able to move forward because of their spirit of prayer,” the pope added.
When speaking to Jesuits in East Timor on Sep. 10, Francis warned against “clericalism” – a concern that has been raised around the Synod on Synodality.
The pope said clericalism “is everywhere.”
“For example, there is a strong clerical culture in the Vatican, which we are slowly trying to change. Clericalism is one of the most subtle means the devil uses,” he said.
“Clericalism is the highest form of worldliness within the clergy. A clerical culture is a worldly culture. That’s why St. Ignatius insists so much on examining worldliness, the spirit of the world, because our sins, especially for frontier men, will be there, in these spheres; in intellectual worldliness, in political worldliness,” Francis added.
“In my opinion, for you, for us priests, this spiritual worldliness is the most difficult disease to overcome,” he said.
The pope told another Jesuit the challenge of the Church “is always not to move away from the people of God.”
“We need to get away from ecclesial ideologies. This is the challenge I leave you with: Do not turn away from the people who are the most precious asset,” Francis said.
The pope’s words to the Jesuits in Asia this month might also be aimed at the participants at the Synod on Synodality in October.
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
