Pope Francis meets with a delegation of “E’ Giornalismo” Award at the Vatican, August 26, 2023. Pope Francis asked Italian journalists to help communicate the upcoming Synod on Synodality. Photo: (CNS photo/Vatican Media) At the weekend the Pope surprised a gathering of journalists in the Vatican by making an appeal to them for help, “not for money” he assured them, but to fight against disinformation and the denial of facts and reality.
This appeal for help came as a prominent Cardinal in America heavily criticised the proposed Synod of Bishops in October which will discuss synodality and which the cardinal slammed as “deeply harmful and potentially schismatic”. Ironically commentators have looked at the Church in the USA and many of its bishops who are openly hostile to Pope Francis and see the seeds of schism sprouting.
The Church in Germany appeared to be going down a dangerous road in its approach to becoming more open and inclusive but it was moving too fast and too radically ahead of the rest of the Church. Pope Francis appears to have reigned it in, so if the most powerful national Church, as Germany probably is, can be reigned in and avoid schism then crying wolf about a Synod on Synodality in Rome (talks about talks) is hysterical and scare-mongering.
Pope Francis told the gathered journalists: “We need to spread a culture of encounter, a culture of dialogue, a culture of listening to the other and his or her reasons. Digital culture has brought us so many new possibilities for exchange, but it also risks turning communication into slogans. No, communication is always back and forth. I speak, I listen, and I respond, but always dialogue. It is not a slogan. I am concerned, for example, about the manipulations of those who interestingly propagate fake news to steer public opinion.”
And for readers of this paper it is important to try to understand what the Pope is doing, so in his words here’s a concise explanation: “I am well aware that speaking of a ‘Synod on Synodality’ may seem something abstruse, self-referential, excessively technical, of little interest to the general public. But what has happened over the past year, which will continue with the assembly next October and then with the second stage of Synod 2024, is something truly important for the Church. It is a journey that St Paul VI began at the end of the [Vatican] Council, when he created the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, because he had realised that in the Western Church synodality had disappeared, whereas in the Eastern Church they have this dimension. And this years-long journey – 60 years – is bearing great fruit”. The Pope asked: “Please, let us get used to listening to each other, to talking, not cutting our heads off for a word. To listen, to discuss in a mature way. This is a grace we all need in order to move forward. And it is something the Church today offers the world, a world so often so incapable of making decisions, even when our very survival is at stake.”
Scandal
Synodality is an attempt to try and build and renew the Church. When St Francis of Assisi heard the voice from the cross it was “go repair my Church which you can see is falling down”. At the time the Church was filled with scandal and corruption and decay. Today isn’t much different and burying our heads in the sand won’t reverse that.
The Pope explains: “We are trying to learn a new way of living relationships, listening to one another to hear and follow the voice of the Spirit. We have opened our doors, we have offered everyone the opportunity to participate, we have taken into account everyone’s needs and suggestions. We want to contribute together to build the Church where everyone feels at home, where no-one is excluded. That word of the Gospel that is so important: everyone. Everyone, everyone: there are no first-, second- or third-class Catholics, no. All together. Everyone. It is the Lord’s invitation.”
Hope
I don’t know about you, but I find great hope in this vision of a Church for everyone because when I read the gospels that’s what I see Jesus constantly proclaiming and promoting. Tax-collectors, prostitutes, Roman soldiers etc, are not only told that they are welcome but Jesus fraternises with them and eats meals with them. Scandalous! And that scares the living daylights out of the religious authorities of the day and is scaring the living daylights out of cardinals and bishops and priests and lay-people today who can’t understand a Church that is not based on merit.
This is the dream of Pope Francis, a Church that is not a meritocracy, that doesn’t have an undue bias towards the 1% who run it, but treats all equally and all are charged with being missionary and reaching out to all those left outside, a Church of and for the poor, with the encounter with Jesus Christ at the heart and an ability to reach out to the great issues of our time – ecology, immigration, inequality, the role of minorities (including, within the Church itself, women).
And we journalists have our role to play and we in turn call on ordinary Catholics to support Catholic journalism, to help counter the spread of disinformation from very powerful and well-funded outlets.
Pope Francis added: “Therefore I dare to ask you, the experts of journalism, for help: help me to narrate this process for what it really is, leaving behind the logic of slogans and pre-packaged stories. No: reality. Someone said: ‘The only truth is reality.’ Yes, reality. We will all benefit from this, and I am sure that this too ‘is journalism!’”
The last time a Pope needed help because of ‘powerful forces’, he resigned because he was “aware of the great problems the Church faces today” and the pressure was too much on his health.
Let’s support Pope Francis and the truth and get behind synodality together.
Garry O’Sullivan is the Editor of The Synodal Times newspaper. Contact him on editor@synodaltimes.com