Closing
the two week meeting, Pope Francis said: ‘God is not afraid of new things. That is why he is continually surprising us,
opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways.’ He said that the Church had to ‘respond
courageously to whatever new challenges come our way.’ The last Synod called specifically to debate
family issues was in 1980 and homosexuality and same-sex couples did not get a
mention. But Pope Francis reminded the Synod that the Church ‘is
called upon to be the house of the Father with doors always wide open ...where
there is a place for everybody.’ But
even under Pope Francis there is no question of the Catholic Church recognising
homosexual marriage.
Did
all the Bishops see eye to eye? Of
course not! There were very distinct
points of view and differences of opinion.
But in his final address to the Synod Pope Francis was very upbeat:
‘Personally I would be very worried and saddened if there were not those
temptations and these animated discussions, if all were in a state of agreement
or silent in a false and quietist peace.
Instead, I have seen and I have heard – with joy and appreciation –
speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and doctrinal zeal, of
wisdom, of frankness and of courage and of boldness. And I have felt that what was set before our
eyes was the good of the Church, of families and the supreme law – the good of
souls! And this, without ever putting
into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of Marriage; the
indissolubility, the unity, the faithfulness, the openness to life.’ Pope Francis said that a highlight of the
gathering was the testimonies of families and those married couples who spoke
about their experiences of married life.
He said: ‘Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to
mature, with true spiritual discernment the proposed ideas and to find concrete
solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must
confront.’
Pope
Francis is clearly happy with healthy disagreement and sees it as part of the
process of discernment in the Church.
The Synod has been likened to the Second Vatican Council when there were
also very lively debates. The period of
several months between each session of the Council was crucial. In a similar way the time between now and
next October will be crucial in securing a fruitful outcome to the whole
process. Hopefully married people will
be intimately involved in the process leading to the October Synod and in the
Synod itself.
Pope
Francis closed this part of the Synod by Beatifying Pope Paul VI who presided
over the final three of the four sessions of Vatican II. It was Pope Paul who established the Synod of
Bishops to give expression to the collegiality existing between the Bishop of
Rome and the other bishops throughout the world. In the Beatification Mass Pope Francis quoted
Pope Paul’s statement setting up the Synod: ‘By carefully surveying the signs
of the times we are making every effort to adapt ways and methods ... to the
growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society.’
It must be said that since the first Synod of Bishops
in 1969 up to now, they have been pretty tame affairs. Pope Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI
exercised, with the enthusiastic assistance of the Curia, a controlling
influence on how they operated. Pope
Francis was determined that this would not be the case under him. He had taken part in a number of Synods over
the years and he saw how they did not fulfil their potential. Invigorated
Synods of Bishops are surely here to stay.
In a mere eighteen months Pope Francis has made such an impact in so
many aspects of Church life that there can surely be no going back! At a two hour pre-synod vigil in St Peter’s
Square he prayed the Church would know ‘how to propose the good news of the
family with credibility.’ He prayed ‘May
the wind of Pentecost blow upon the Synod’s work, on the Church and on all
humanity. Undo the knots which prevent
people from encountering one another, heal the wounds that bleed, rekindle
hope.’
