The delegates (more than the laity) rejected the guiding document of the Episcopal Conference, deemed not very inclusive. The assembly of bishops slips in October. Zuppi Glissa: “We continue to walk, it is good for us”
The second stage of what is defined as the “prophetic phase” of the synodal path of the Italian Church has closed with a rain of criticisms of the final text, so much so that everything is postponed to the assembly scheduled for 25 October. The so -called “basis” has put itself against the management of the Synod because, in essence, the text is still considered too “poor”, that is, “closed”. Especially on the themes of homo -effectiveness, of “particular” emotions, women and the accompaniment of young people and “fragile” people.
The synodal path, which has now become a status for the church led by Pope Francistherefore it is increasingly resembles what it would not want to be, that is, a parliament or, more prosaically, to an active permanent assembly. The 1,008 participants, including 168 bishops, 7 cardinals, 252 priests, 34 religious, 17 deacons, 530 lay people (of which 253 men and 277 women), gathered in Rome these days, in fact, have done over 95 percent of the interventions on the 50 synod propositions critically. Highlighting precisely what some bishop has defined as a “rebellious” attitude, but that Monsignor Erio Castelluccipresident of the National Committee of the Synod Way, he preferred to consider as a “Viva, critical, loyal, passionate for the Church and his mission” assembly.
It will also be a “gym of synodality”, as the same bishops who wrote to the Pope have defined it after the conclusion of the works, but it is certainly a condition of continuous rebound. With the result that even bishops tend to open to missionary innovations, they found themselves in front of increasingly difficult requests to combine between the needs of the so -called pastorality and the stopping points of Christian doctrine. “We felt like two teddy bears to whom the balls are pulled like at the point of shooting,” he ironized Castellucci Looking at Monsignor Valentino Bulgarelli, Secretary of the Committee, in briefing with journalists on Tuesday afternoon. But yesterday’s result, that is, postponing everything to October 25, was already in the air.
The Synodal Assembly, reads the motion that obtained 835 votes in favor, 12 against and 7 abstentions, “establishes that the text of the propositions, entitled” for joy to be full “, is entrusted to the presidency of the National Committee of the synodal path because, with the support of the Committee and facilitators of the study groups, providing for the final editorial staff, welcoming amendments, priorities and contributions. This postponement will also lead to a postponement of the Shareholders’ Meeting from May to November, because the bishops must examine a text that evidently cannot be there in May. To underline the exceptional nature of what happened, just think that this has happened only three times in the last twenty years: in 2005 for the death of John Paul II And twice in the Covid years.
The rain of “criticisms”, he said yesterday Castellucci“They require a global rethinking of the text and not only the adjustment of some of its parts”, thus showing that the “engine” of the Synod is however very sensitive to the demands of “opening” advanced. So much so that Monsignor himself has kept underlining how “the Church is not composed of guides who ignore the” feeling “of the people (of God), pulling straight as if they were always right – which unfortunately widespread today in the sovereign and dictatorial trends – but is composed of guides called to discern the presence and action of the spirit in the people of God, of which they are part”.
So to explain the sense of the Synod, that “it is not a parliament”, however, certain political categories are brought up, always those, as if the Synod was a liberal bulwark against the doctrinary claims reduced to sovereignty.
Which then do not understand which further openings can be integrated into the text. Proposition n ° 5 already indicates that “the dioceses, also making use of training experiences, practices already underway, commit themselves to the formation of operators and new paths so that the communities are travel companions and promote the integration of people who suffer because they feel like the margins of ecclesial life due to their emotional relationships or wounded or not conforming family conditions (married marriage (civilly married in the second, and cohabitants etc.) or their sexual orientation and their gender identity ». Words that made it say it Castellucci: “As you can see, these propositions are not even so closed.” Like the one on women, where the fact that the reference to the diaconate has explored was criticized, but it remains a substantial opening where it is said that it is necessary to “promote the appointment of women (lay and religious) to the guidance of diocesan offices, in roles of pastoral responsibility in the diocese, parishes and associations, (…) to promote their access to the ministries established, because – such as readers, acoolite, catechists and referents of small communities and referents of small communities. – Christian communities can serve (…) ».
“This dynamism is good for us, it is the sign of a living church,” commented the president of the CEI, the cardinal Matteo Zuppi“We continue to walk, how much it is good for us to walk together.”
It is to be hoped that all this walking leads to bringing souls back to the fold, because a recent survey of the Washington Pew Research Center notes that in Italy there is an unprecedented collapse of belonging to the Catholic Church.
