In the Aug/Sept issue of Position Papers I dedicated a short editorial to the question of unity with the Pope. However a number people have said to me that they, or people they know, have been perplexed by the goings on at the Oct. 6-27 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon taking place in Rome. They are disconcerted particularly by footage of some of the indigenous ceremonies which have taken place in the Vatican, and other churches in Rome; the presence of what are said by some to be pagan idols in ceremonies; and the calls by some ecclesiastics for married clergy and women deacons.
What I would like to offer here are some personal reflections on the way I approach this Synod, and similar events. For want of space I have to be brief, and cannot add in nuances which otherwise might be helpful; as a result what I say here might come across as a bit blunt. I frame these reflections as seven basic do’s and don’ts when approaching such issues. Here goes:
1. The Pope is the Pope – respect him
The Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth. That is a very serious business. He is the rock on which the Church stands – that is simply the way that Christ has established his Church. He, by virtue of his office and not any other quality, is the sign and means of unity of the Church, or to put it simply: no Pope, no Church. Or in the words of the Servant of God, Sr Lucia of Fatima: “He who is not with the Pope is not with God; and he who wants to be with God has to be with the Pope” (interview of March 3, 1998).
2. Avoid disunity – it does great harm to the Church
In a 2016 homily in Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke of the diabolical assault on unity in the Church. Referring to the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians (11:17-26), Pope Francis noted how St Paul reproaches his interlocutors “because there are divisions” among them: “He rebukes them for the division that is among them, they are divided: they fight, one on the one side, and one on the other”. And “division destroys the fabric of the Church”. Since the Pope is the sign and means of unity in the Church, to speak disparagingly of him, let alone to engage in bitter criticisms of him, has the whiff of sulphur about it.
3. Avoid the sowers of disunity (like the plague)
There are websites which seem to delight in overt or covert criticism of the Pope (Rorate Coeli and Church Militant are two such sites). Such sites exhibit an almost obsessive tendency towards heresy bashing. There are a number of problems with this: in the first place there is the great danger of sinning against charity and Christ’s injunction to love your enemies (see Mt.5:44, Lk.6:35); secondly there is a danger of self-righteousness: the heretic becomes the epitome of evil and I think of myself as one of the just, or even of the “elect”; and thirdly we distort the Church in the eyes of the world in reducing it a fight to preserve orthodoxy. Ironically many of these trenchant critics of the Pope have adopted the same position as those “liberals” who claimed freedom to dissent from Pope Paul VI’s teaching on contraception. St Josemaría Escrivá spoke of these dissenters at the time in words which today could be applied to those defenders of so-called orthodoxy: “The teachings of the Popes cannot be disregarded just like that. Nor ought they to allege, as they do with incredible flippancy, that the Pope when he does not speak ex cathedra is simply a private theologian subject to error. To say nothing of the tremendous arrogance it supposes to affirm that the Pope makes mistakes, while they do not.” (In Conversations, #95)
4. Before deciding, know the facts
Many of the criticisms being levelled at the Synod, and indirectly at the Pope, appear at best rash. A case in point might be the reaction to the presence of Amazonian “idols” in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina in Rome. Were these items genuine idols? Were the unusual ceremonies which took place in the Vatican these days really examples of nature worship? Granted they looked odd to Western eyes, but that is a long cry from idolatry. It would require a bit of investigation, of calm and patient study of such matters before raising a hue and cry about such matters. So if you have studied the matter in depth (and not relied on some of the websites I’ve alluded to), and then find that indeed this is idolatry, in that case by all means raise a storm … but not before.
5. Be patient – things usually improve
By now it is clear that Pope Francis works by allowing people engage in a free-wheeling, brain-storming manner, and then drawing from that what he wills. That being the case, we shouldn’t be too put out (I think) by the calls from the Synod for married clergy etc. A Synod is a purely consultative body and the Pope is free to draw from their findings what he wishes for the usual post-synodal apostolic exhortation. That is where our attention should lie, not in the fireworks of a passing Synod.
6. Don’t be over-focussed on matters ecclesiastical
And now for an unusual ‘don’t’: don’t be overly interested in ecclesiastical assemblies – that is clericalism! The Pope is engaging in a consultation with by and large ecclesiastics on matter concerning ecclesiastical practices in a certain ecclesiastical circumscription of the Church (and not a circumscription in which you or I live, or are ever likely to live in). Besides what you know or don’t know about a Synod happening in Rome will have exactly 0% impact on that Synod – so why get worked up?! We (including myself as a priest) have many other things to be occupying our working day.
7. Pray
Finally we must all pray for one another in the Church, and in particular we pray for the Pope – not in the sense that some disingenuously say: “Pray for the Pope!” implying “because he’s a heretic!” To say that would be real heresy. We pray for the Pope (and his collaborators) because we have the joyful obligation as his spiritual sons and daughters to do so.