Synod, October 27: over 1,200 amendments proposed to draft synthesis report

October 28, 2023

As the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops neared its close, participants proposed 1,251 modifications to the synthesis report that will mark the fruit of their deliberations.

According to Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, 320 of the Synod’s 364 voting members were in attendance at the morning general congregation on October 27—a session that was not listed on the updated Synod schedule released the previous week. The synthesis report is scheduled to be approved on October 28, and the first session will conclude the following day. The Synod’s second session will take place in October 2024.

At the October 27 press briefing, Ruffini said that by the end of discussions the previous day, the working groups (circuli minores) had proposed 1,125 collective modi [amendments], in addition to 126 individual modi.

“All modi’have been and will be taken into consideration out of respect for those who submitted them,” said Ruffini. “The intent is to first consider those modi that have garnered broad consensus, so they can find their place in the updated text.”

Unnamed experts drafted the synthesis report under the aegis of the 13-member Commission for the Synthesis Report. During the night of October 27-28, said Ruffini, the synthesis report will be revised. The revision will require a majority vote to the commission before being presented to all of the Synod’s voting members on October 28.

On October 28, the Synod’s voting members will vote on whether to approve each of the synthesis report’s paragraphs. A two-thirds majority of members present at the time of the vote is required for the approval of each paragraph. Under the Synod’s rules, abstention is not an option: each member present for the vote must for approval or disapproval. When the votes are tallied, the votes of the bishop and non-bishop voting members will not be distinguished—allowing for the approval of paragraphs that did not gain requisite support from bishops.

Women’s ordination to the diaconate

The Pillar obtained a copy of the draft synthesis report. Although it did not publish the entire draft, it discussed “several sections likely to prove controversial,” including “questions about the theological concept of the sensus fidei [sense of the faith], along with sections dealing with the Church’s modes of pastoral care, episcopal accountability, and the prospect of admitting women to the order of the diaconate.”

According to The Pillar, the draft report referred to “different positions have been expressed regarding women’s access to diaconal ministry”:

The draft says that “for some, this step would be unacceptable because they consider it a discontinuity with Tradition. For others, however, granting women access to the diaconate would restore the practice of the Early Church. Others, still, discern it as an appropriate and necessary response to the signs of the times, faithful to the Tradition, and one that would find an echo in the hearts of many who seek new energy and vitality in the Church.”

Sources close to the synod say that while that section is technically accurate, it does not reflect their experience, that a very small number of delegates have spoken in favor of women’s ordination to the diaconate, while arguments against the idea have generally received popular support.

Amendments related to synodal procedure

At the press briefing, Sheila Pires, communications officer of Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and secretary of the Synod’s information commission, listed proposed amendments from the working groups that were related to synodal procedure.

• a three-week session (not four) at next year’s Synod session
• “more time for personal reflection and meditation, fostering better participation through interventions in the Assembly”
• more group meetings were requested, based not much on language but on each individual’s background
• “a brief summary of the Synthesis Document in more understandable language for everyone, especially for young people:
• “the importance of bringing ‘conversations in the Spirit’ to the communities [i.e., Church communities around the world) to avoid the risk of discussions being disconnected from the concrete life of the people of God”
• “involve local communities at all levels, following a synodal path”
• “apply synodality and co-responsibility, making good use of the possibilities already provided by canon law to involve young people, women, and deacons”

Father Radcliffe on synodal method, homosexual seminarians

As other speakers at the press conference shared their experiences, Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, one of the Synod’s two spiritual assistants, said that the Synod is still a Synod of Bishops despite the presence of lay voting members.

“It is certainly still a Synod of Bishops because it reveals very clearly what it means to be representatives of the episcopal college not as solitary individuals, but as bishops immersed in the conversation of their people,” through “listening, speaking, learning together,” he said.

Father Radcliffe also said that the Synod was more about method than about proposing changes.

“We are gathered to understand how to be the Church in a new way, rather than making specific decisions; how we can be a Church that listens, and whose members listen to each other across different cultures, and listen to tradition over time,” he said. “We are learning how to make decisions together, how to listen to each other: we are at the beginning of a learning process, so there will be obstacles and mistakes, and this is okay because we are on a journey.”

Father Radcliffe was asked about the admission of homosexual candidates to seminaries. (The Church’s discipline, affirmed under Pope Francis, bars their admission.) Vatican News reported:

Father Radcliffe, in response to a question about the admission of homosexuals to the seminary, clarified that the issue is not exclusion but rather the fact that there are people who have made their sexuality “the center of their identity,” which raises doubts about their suitability for the priesthood.

Earlier coverage

• Synod of Bishops publishes retreat texts
• Pope at Synod’s opening Mass: Let us walk with the Holy Spirit
• Synod, October 4: Pope emphasizes role of Holy Spirit; Cardinal Hollerich calls for ‘new insights’
• Synod, October 5: ‘Expert-facilitators’ guide discussion; final report will form agenda of 2024 Synod session
• Synod, October 6: discussion of 1st topic nears close; Vatican spokesman says participants may speak with media
• Synod, October 7-8: working groups submit first reports; leading African cardinal emphasizes listening, discernment
• Synod, October 9: participants turn to new topic; Orthodox prelate draws sharp contrast between Eastern synodality, current Synod
• Synod, October 10: participants discuss 2nd topic, elect members of key commission
• Synod, October 11: some participants call for ‘greater discernment’ of Catholic teaching on sexual morality
• Synod, October 12: participants pray for peace
• Synod, October 13: Cardinal Hollerich asks participants to set aside their own thinking, listen to others
• Synod, October 14-15: presiding sister says Synod is ‘setting the stage for future changes’
• Synod, October 16: women’s ordination to diaconate, LGBTQ ‘woundedness’ gain greater prominence
• Synod, October 17: Vatican spokesman mentions ‘reinstatement of female diaconate’
• Synod, October 18: Cardinal Hollerich calls for ‘small but sensitive changes’ in Church governance
• Synod, October 19: Cardinal Czerny says ‘identification’ between Holy Orders and Church offices is being ‘overcome’
• Synod, October 20: participants discuss authority and authoritarianism
• Synod, October 21-22: German bishop says apostolic Tradition needs to be set aside
• Synod, October 23-24: Father Radcliffe compares year between Synod sessions to pregnancy; Cardinal Schönborn speaks
• Synod, October 25: Assembly approves message: listen to everyone and God’s holy people are infallible, Pope tells Synod
• Synod, October 26: participants discuss synthesis report, which will be merely ‘transitory’

 

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