LEAD STORY
SYNOD EXTENDED ONE MORE YEAR BUT SHOULD ITS RESULTS THUS FAR GIVE THE HOLY SEE PAUSE? n BY CHRISTINA DEARDURFF
O
n October 16, during his Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis, in a surprise decision, announced that the scheduled 2023 Synod on Synodality would be extended for an additional year. The Synod will thus begin in Rome in October 2023, but then continue for an addtional year of reflection and conclude only with another-month-long session in October of 2024. The announcement came as the Vatican’s second phase of preparations for the 2023 Synod seemed to be ending, as the last episcopal conferences from around the world submit the results of their “listening sessions” conducted with their responding faithful. The next stage is the “Continental Stage” — meetings of regional epis10
INSIDE THE VATICAN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2022
copal federations, intended to, according to the Vatican, “deepen our discernment of what has emerged from the previous phases of local and national listening.” A few themes seem to be recurring, especially among those of the “developed” world, and virtually all of them have to do with sex and gender: more ecclesial “power” for women, an end to priestly celibacy, official approval of homosexuality, recognition of transgenderism, and acceptance of artificial contraception. On the heels of these themes are calls for a general empowerment of the laity, in tandem with the eradication of “clericalism,” often cited as the root cause of clergy sexual abuse. Why is sexuality and its attendant
phenomenon, gender, of such prime importance to those offering their opinions about today’s Catholic Church? The most obvious answer is that these are the themes preoccupying the world — at least the western, and westernized, cultures where the influence of the internet is pervasive. These are the themes vying for people’s attention every day, and other themes like the salvation of one’s soul, combatting the effects of sin, the increase of sanctifying grace among the faithful and spreading it to the entire world — themes that once were assumed to be the special province of the Catholic Church — seem, if the “listening sessions’” responses are accurate, to be absent from the average Catholic’s radar.
