And yet it advances: more “pastoral responsibilities” for women in the Church, the invitation to “continue research” on the possibility of the female diaconate and the issue “that must be taken up again” on whether the obligation of celibacy for priests is necessary in the Catholic Church, in addition to “issues relating to gender identity and sexual orientation” that raise “new questions” that must be answered “without giving in to simplifying judgments that harm people and the Body of the Church” .
These are just some of the still “open” issues approved on Saturday night by the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, the points that have attracted the greatest number (a few dozen) of negative votes, but which have been approved with a majority of more than two-thirds as the entire final report.
It was almost 9:00 p.m. at night when Pope Francis spoke in the Nervi Room, at the end of the first session that began on October 4, to “give heartfelt thanks to everyone.” Shortly before, he had posed for a photograph with the synod mothers, the women who had the right to vote for the first time since Paul VI instituted the Synod: they were 54 out of 365.
Nothing has been decided yet, but to ease tensions between conservatives and progressives, Francis has divided the assembly into two parts, with the second part meeting in a year.
Meanwhile, the approved text shows the face of “a Church on the way out, which creates spaces for everyone, without excluding anyone, because this is the approach of Jesus,” says Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod.
A few days ago, Francis himself exclaimed in the classroom: «The Church is feminine, she is a wife, she is a mother. And when ministers exceed their service and mistreat the people of God, they disfigure the face of the Church with chauvinistic and dictatorial attitudes.”
The Pope explained that “the Church does not live on income,” recalling the memorable speech with which two years ago he began the synodal process with a consultation with the faithful from all over the world: “We must not create another Church, but a different Church.” .
The essential thing is what he said at WYD in Lisbon on August 3: «In the Church there is room for everyone! No one is superfluous, there is room for everyone, just as we are. “Everyone, everyone, everyone.”
The document approved by the Synod states that numerous women spoke of “a Church that hurts” and lamented that “clericalism, machismo and the inappropriate use of authority continue to mark the face of the Church and damage communion.”
The text proposes “theological and pastoral search for women’s access to the diaconate”, an option “unacceptable for some” that reflects the divisions in the institution where only men can be deacons or priests. The question of the role of women was presented as a priority, but it aroused strong resistance.
The two proposals in this regard were the ones that received the most noes, around 20% of the votes. “This confirms that they are open questions: the study is underway. There is still a way to go,” the secretary general said in a press conference. the Synod, Cardinal Mario Grech, believing that the Church “creates spaces for everyone.”
For almost a month, the members of the Synod, made up of bishops and lay people from all continents and assisted by a hundred experts, debated in groups and behind closed doors on topics such as polygamy, the ordination of married men and the fight against violence. After an extensive two-year consultation among the faithful, this meeting on the future of the Church opened on October 4 amid hopes of openness and fears of conservatives regarding a possible deviation from the doctrine.