Pope Francis often uses the image of plates flying when families have disagreements. This is fine, he says, as long as you end the day by making peace with each other. One of the obvious shifts that has taken place in the Francis pontificate is that he’s comfortable about debates and disagreements inside the Church. But even he might be startled by the fireworks being lit in Germany, where last week the Church embarked on its “synodal pathway” with a meeting of the synod assembly in Frankfurt.
The process has already sparked a freewheeling and at times fractious debate about the future direction of the Church. It also raises broader questions about how a synodal Church can maintain unity. The use of power, the role of women, priestly celibacy, and Catholic sexual teaching – tricky issues that Rome has tried to keep under wraps – are all on the table. Officials in the Roman Curia are watching the German discussions nervously.
The assembly is made up of 159 men, 70 women and one non-binary person; last weekend’s gathering ended with a prayer service led by women – the bishops sat in the pews with everyone else. Predictably, plates are being thrown around and smashed. The Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne, Rainer Woelki, suggested the synod assembly was creating “a Protestant church parliament”. Tim Kurzbach, the leader of lay Catholics in Woelki’s archdiocese, said the cardinal “should have realised long ago that the office alone no longer imparts true authority”. Woelki “is destroying the authority of his episcopal office” by not using “good arguments”, he added.
06 February 2020, The Tablet
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