Long before the Synod of Bishops on the Family began early last month, the “battlefield” was already set. The “contenders” were itching to “throw punches” at each another, based on media interviews and publications made in the lead up to the gathering. While there were many pastoral challenges facing the family that were identified during last year’s extraordinary assembly, one issue stuck out like a sore thumb.
Early last year, German Cardinal Walter Kasper stirred a hornet’s nest by proposing to a full consistory of cardinals that some Catholics, who divorced and civilly remarried, might be admitted to Holy Communion in certain cases. Immediately, the conservatives rebutted it, saying that marriage can never be dissolved and that the doctrine on people living in “public and permanent adultery” can never be changed. Others saw some light in Kasper’s suggestion and argued that the situation does not call for a change in doctrine but in the pastoral approach to receive these people back into the Church. During the 2014 Synod itself, there were reports of shouting between the cardinals on the floor and accusations of rigging the mid-term report, particularly on the subject of homosexuality.
Many Vatican observers believed that the October 2015 Synod, with 279 bishops from 120 nations in attendance, would be a heated one, if only for these two issues.
PREVENTION IS KEY
However, there were clear indications that the Vatican wanted to prevent such controversies from happening again. For one, some of those who were very vocal about the Kasper proposal were disinvited to the gathering, particularly the very conservative American William Cardinal Burke, the former “Chief Justice” of the Vatican, who was reportedly demoted by the Pope for his criticism of Francis’ “progressive ways.” However, a balance was still struck by the Holy Father’s confirmation of the attendance of conservative Africans: South Africa’s William Cardinal Napier and Guinea’s Robert Cardinal Sarah.
For another, new rules on how the sessions will be carried out were instituted. Instead of giving more time for Synod Fathers to speak on the floor, the number of plenary sessions were decreased. Alternatively, the participants were broken down into language groups which, according to the Vatican, made it easier for the Synod Fathers to exchange ideas. There were 18 plenary sessions and 13 language group sessions in all.
Some observers noted, however, that the innovation was introduced to prevent heated arguments and divisions, which happen when the floor is yielded to someone who is vocal or opposed to a proposal, from happening. While this was perceived by some conservatives as a form of censorship, Pope Francis reminded the participants not to hesitate to speak their mind.
“The Pope has called for issues to be addressed with courage and openness, both in and out of the ecclesial sphere. That’s why it’s not surprising that there are opposing views and arguments,” said Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, during a briefing in the Vatican on October 2.
ANNULMENT REFORM
A third approach to minimize bickering at the Synod was to nip a hot topic in the bud even before the sessions began. In September, Pope Francis changed some of the rules concerning the process of granting marriage annulments, which a number of Synod Fathers in 2014 argued were too slow and costly.
In reforming the annulment process, Vatican analysts believe that the Pope relieved some of the escalating pressure on the divorced-and-remarried debate. By making it easier for divorced-and-remarried couples to verify the nullity of their previous marriage, it may also become easier to find a pastoral solution to re-admit them to Communion. For example, if it is deemed that the first marriage of a divorced-and-remarried individual is null, he or she can go through a pastorally-guided process of conversion for his or her “public” and “temporary” adultery during the time when the annulment was not yet decided on. Following this penitential path, he or she can eventually be granted absolution, get married in Church, and receive Communion.
But then, again, this is only one scenario and will not apply to all the divorced-and-remarried. As the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Cardinal Nichols said two weeks before the opening of the General Synod, “divorced people are not a category and there can be no categorical solution because they are not a category – they are people on a pilgrimage, like all of us.”
The Pope himself clarified, on the plane back to Rome from the U.S., that the streamlining of the annulment process is not a “Catholic divorce.” He emphasized that no doctrine was changed, only juridical procedure.
THE FINAL SAY
At the end of the day, however, the final document that was generated by the Synod Fathers will only serve to guide the Holy Father in writing a post-synodal apostolic exhortation that will hopefully address the contentious issues. It remains to be seen if the Pope will consider all these recommendations or, by his own authority, act on his own.
By itself, however, the start of the Synod, October 4, was auspicious, if not providential, and perhaps pointed to the direction which the Holy Father will eventually take. This was because the Gospel reading, which was not premeditated but determined by the Church’s liturgical cycle, spoke about divorce: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mk 10:12).
The Pope himself took notice of this in his homily, saying that the readings “seem to have been chosen precisely for this moment of grace which the Church is experiencing.” Citing the readings, he affirmed the Church’s teaching on homosexual unions and the indissolubility of marriage. “When Jesus says, ‘what God has joined together, let no man put asunder,’ He exhorts believers to ‘overcome every form of individualism and legalism which conceals a narrow self-centeredness and a fear of accepting the true meaning of the couple and of human sexuality in God’s plan,” the Pope said, likely drawing support from conservatives.
However, Pope Francis emphasized that while the Church needs to uphold and be faithful to the truth, it also has a mission “in charity.” He used the image of a mother “conscious of her duty to seek and care for hurting couples with the balm of acceptance and mercy.”
He quoted the passage in Mark which reminds the Church that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27), implying that while doctrine cannot be changed, pastoral approach can and may.
He reinforced this message at the opening of the Synod, admonishing the Synod Fathers to be wary of the “hardening of hearts which, despite good intentions, keep people away from God” – a likely message to rigid conservatives who defend the truth without tending to God’s people with hearts of mercy.
