The ‘Self-Referential’ Synod, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Aug 14, 2024

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.

“The entire synodal process has been, and remains, inward-looking,” writes Francis X. Maier in The Catholic Thing. Therein lies one of the greatest ironies of this troubled and troubling pontificate.

Several of the cardinals who participated in the papal election of 2013 have reported that the pro-Bergoglio tide began to rise when, in the conferences that took place before the conclave, the cardinal from Argentina spoke of the weakness of a “self-referential” Church. Now, as we move toward the culminating event of what was once expected to be a reforming papacy, the action in Rome is more inward-looking, more “self-referential,” than ever.

For three long years Pope Francis and the prelates he has chosen to lead the Synod on Synodality have stressed the necessity of developing a “synodal” Church: a process that would begin, they said, with a broad consultation among all the People of God. But as we wearily approach the October meeting of the Synod, most Catholics are still seeking an answer to the most basic question: What does “synodality” mean?…

Continue reading >>>>>>>>