Synod concluded, conservative opposition to Francis makes itself heard (but loses)

A greater role for women in positions of responsibility in the Church and an open door for 'deaconesses'. These are the key passages of the Synod document on Synodality concluded on Saturday evening and approved with a two-thirds majority. The most controversial chapter coagulates the major conservative opposition (97 no votes out of 355), but fails to block the vote in favour. This is the passage: 'This House calls for the full implementation of all opportunities already provided for in existing law regarding the role of women, particularly in places where they remain unfulfilled. There is no reason why women should not assume leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Even the question of women's access to the diaconal ministry remains open'. Francis declared that this Synod will not be followed by an Exhortation of his own (as has always been the case) but this final document enters into the Magisterium, it is law even if it does not prescribe precise acts, but indicates general lines to be followed.

A month of work, many hours of meetings, discussions, amendments, daily briefings, special hearings, a veil of confidentiality that enveloped the assembly, broken by a few official statements, especially on the topic of women, which polarised media attention (such as divorcees in the Synod on the family, celibacy for the one on the Amazon). The synodal process (which means, in synthesis, "walking together") "does not end with the end of the assembly but includes the implementation phase", the document states: including everyone in the "daily journey with a synodal methodology of consultation and discernment, identifying concrete ways and formation paths to achieve a tangible synodal conversion in the various ecclesial realities".

It is urged to make the Holy See more synodal and missionary, the Church less authoritarian and more decentralised, and to encourage greater lay leadership. It is proposed that the dicasteries from beyond the Tiber begin a consultation "before publishing important normative documents". The Synod, in this time of "too many wars" in progress, makes its own the "repeated appeals of Pope Francis for peace, condemning the logic of violence, hatred, revenge". It also encourages ecumenism that "directs towards a full and visible unity of Christians"; the synod path "constitutes a true act of further reception" of the Second Vatican Council, propagating "its inspiration" and nourishing "for today's world its prophetic force".

Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of Vatican Media, comments on Vatican News: "The document voted by the Synod is the stage of a journey that began with the Second Vatican Council, which continues and requires to be concretely lived at every level in the Churches". It is the realisation that "synodality is the way to live and bear witness to communion. The Church is not a company or a party, the bishops are not the 'prefects' of Rome, the laity are not the mere executors of clerical decisions and directives. The Church is a people. The people of God, walking together: its reason for existing does not consist in the management of structures, bureaucracies or powers. Nor is it to conquer and defend its own space in the world. Its only reason for existing is to make the encounter with Christ possible today, in every place where the women and men of our time live, work, rejoice, suffer'.