ROME – Perhaps one of the most exciting moments of the Synod of Bishops so far, not to mention one of the most illustrative, took place during a heated exchange between synod organisers and a veteran Vatican reporter over a publicity “fast” called for by Pope Francis during the assembly.
In his opening address for the Oct. 4-29 Synod of Bishops on Synodality, officially titled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”, the pope called for “a certain fast from the public word”, justified as a way to safeguard the objectivity of the discussion.
In effect, it meant the pope was telling participants not to divulge what was going on behind closed doors except those selected by synod officials to take part in carefully choreographed daily briefings in the Vatican Press Office, and even then to speak only in the most general terms.
To justify the cone of silence, Francis cited the influence he felt public opinion had exercised on previous synod gatherings, such as the 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family, when communion for divorced and remarried Catholics was a major talking point, and the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, during which the married priesthood was a source of debate.
In both cases, Francis said bishops entered the discussion under the “pressure” of polarised public debate, and thus for this month’s gathering, he wanted to underline “the priority of listening”.
Inevitably, however, the papally imposed sound of silence didn’t play well with everyone.
Given the high-profile nature of the synod, the first of two Rome-based gatherings that will culminate with a second edition next October, some observers and pundits have complained that the confidentiality requirements reinforce suspicions of a private agenda. Others object that Catholics around the world were invited to participate in the process, and they have a legitimate stake in knowing what’s being said in their name.
Those tensions came to a head during an Oct. 17 press conference, when a reporter asked whether participants were aware of the topics being repeatedly asked about by journalists in the daily briefings, if they knew what the major headlines were, and how those issues lined up with priorities inside the synod hall.
In response, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications and ostensibly the PR czar for the synod, testily responded that synod participants are not “closed off”, and are able to read newspapers and online stories.
“At the same time, we have tried to explain (that) the synod is not (meant) to respond to the questions of one journalist or another. It’s a discernment of the church born of a process…a long process of listening to the whole church in the whole world,” Ruffini said.
He insisted that what’s happening in the synod hall “is not out of touch with the world”, and that participants are routinely praying for world events, such as the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
“It’s a discernment that is not in response to a question that is posed by one journalist or another, but is to respond to the question on what the church must do to walk together. This is the meaning of the synod, it doesn’t enter into the category of opinions,” he said, saying, “it’s not that every article or every headline we’re saying, this journalist wrote this or that one said.”
What’s being talked about is “what you read in the Instrumentum Laboris,” he said, referring to the synod’s official working document.
A second reporter, who writes for a Catholic publication, then challenged Ruffini, saying readers want more than continual applause of the “symbol of the round table,” referring to the round tables at which synod participants – prelates, clergy, religious and laity – sit together for the discussion.
Readers “want to know that the issues they raised and that are listed in the Instrumentum Laboris are issues that are being taken seriously, even passionately,” this reporter said.
“There are people who are seriously concerned about the status of women in the church, or an attitude of welcoming or not welcoming LGBTQ people. Those aren’t just journalistic inventions, those are issues that were raised repeatedly at the local, diocesan, national and continental levels,” the reporter said.
“To write it off as a journalistic question,” she said to the sound of applause from colleagues, “I think is not very nice.”
A visibly irritated Ruffini retorted that issues mentioned in the Instrumentum Laboris such as the role of women and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics are being addressed.
Ruffini called the reporter’s assertion that there will be no concrete result at the end of the synod “inexact and false”, saying the result will be a synthesis document which will be voted on and approved, and sent back to local parishes and dioceses to evaluate and discuss further before next October’s synod gathering.
“I’ve said many times, I confess it’s really funny that I cannot, it’s my fault, manage to explain; we have said many times that we are in the middle of a path and that the synod will end, this assembly, with a synthesis document that will then be sent back to the People of God and then there will be another synod,” Ruffini said.
“To say that it’s a round table as if it’s a talk show is exactly the opposite of what I said,” he said, insisting, “It’s a conversation in the spirit which is trying to make a discernment precisely in order to respond to what was requested by the People of God.”
While at some level entertaining to onlookers, the heated exchange reflected a larger frustration on the part of not only organisers struggling to explain the process through a muzzle, but also on the part of Catholics invested in the process who feel shut out of the discussion.
In this sense, Pope Francis’s imposition of a media blackout, which perhaps at some level avoids the public exchanging of punches between ideological opponents in the press, has created different tensions.
Reporters have routinely asked about “conspiracies” and impressions that the pope’s “private agenda” is being pushed, or whether a “liberal cabal” is manipulating the discussion to sway it in one way or another.
Rather than taking issues off the table, the press, not knowing what is being said about the hot-button issues being discussed or having access to participants who can shed light, have honed in on a select number of the most polemical issues.
In every single press briefing since the synod began, questions have been raised about the status of women, including the topics of women’s priestly ordination and the female diaconate, as well as the inclusion of LBGTQ+ Catholics, including the blessing of same-sex couples and whether prelates from the global south, namely Africa, feel that their western counterparts are pushing a more liberal agenda on them in regard to these issues.
RELATED: Synod participants claim ‘no polarisation’, no plans to change doctrine on LGBT and women issues
Conservative reporters have demanded to know whether current church teaching is being considered or if it is even a factor in the discussion, while more liberal-minded journalists have pushed for answers on how serious the church is about making moves on issues such as the women’s diaconate and LGBTQ+ issues.
Participants collectively have said there will be no major decisions made as a result of the process, as the synod is on synodality, and thus focused on how the church understands itself and interacts among members at various levels.
That, however, has not taken the polemics away nor stopped questions from being asked about what decisions might come at the end of the whole process.
It remains to be seen whether the media blackout will also be in place for next year’s gathering, but if this year’s briefings are any indication, maintaining a cone of silence is no guarantee that polarization will be eliminated; rather, it could well increase the unease among Catholics impatient for answers.
Pope Francis poses for a family photograph with the participants of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall in Vatican on October 23, 2023 | TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)
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