There has been a good deal of hype over this month’s Synod on Synodality in Rome, which will draw together nearly 400 participants. Touching on issues such as women’s ordination, LGBTQ+ issues and clerical celibacy, this year’s synod is the first of a two-part discussion that will culminate next October.
In the lead-up to this synod, conservatives who consider the process rigged and divisive are talking about schism, while progressives who see opponents of the process as obtusely stuck in the past and as obstructive to important processes of change have labelled their ideological counterparts “rigid”.
Yet the background could prove far more interesting for the Church’s future.
Of the 363 participants, 54 will for the first time be women who have the right to vote on any final document. Another 54 will be cardinals from all over the world.
As the Synod on Synodality begins, there will be 136 cardinals under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in the next conclave, including the 18 prelates who will be made cardinals just days earlier, on 30 September.
What that means is that nearly half of the cardinals of voting age, many of whom live far apart and have not had the chance to spend any real time together, will be locked in a small space together for almost a month.
In terms of how the next conclave will break down whenever the time comes, the October synod is close to a dry run.
Generally, synod discussions are divided into morning and afternoon sessions, interspersed with breaks, and with a pause in the middle of the day for lunch. Prelates have that time to themselves, and usually have Sundays as their only personal free day.
The working sessions are composed of both general sessions, during which participants have three to four minutes to speak, and working group sessions, which are divided according to language.
Last year, during Pope Francis’s August 2022 consistory and global meeting of cardinals, during which they gathered for two days to discuss the Pope’s constitution Predicate Evangelium on reforming the Roman Curia, one of the biggest concerns was that the prelates did not know one another.
When asked what most excited them about the two-day meeting of cardinals, most of the new ones at the time said they were keenly interested in getting to know the other cardinals, as they represent a vastly diverse group, something the Holy Father has sought to ensure with his appointments to the Sacred College throughout his 10-year papacy.
When it comes to any Synod of Bishops, usually a kind of “synod outside the synod” unfolds during those breaks, with groups from two to 20 congregating to talk. Lunches or dinners are also key moments where franker, more informal conversations happen.
However, what most participants would say is that, by far, the most important day on the calendar is Sunday, which as the only free day allows time for leisurely lunches, prolonged cocktail hours and coffee appointments in which they can sit together and talk.
On Sundays, prelates will usually head for favourite Roman restaurants, such as Arturo’s, Taverna Giulia, or L’Eau Vive, a French restaurant owned by an order of nuns who interrupt dining every night at 10pm to sing the Salve Regina.
It is in those conversations that an entirely different dynamic will take shape, one which could have far more important implications than the synod discussion itself.
In that sense, the synod is an especially important experience for the new cardinals and for all the cardinal voters in a papal election to begin to understand what they might be looking for in a candidate.
While in town, many participants will also be invited to speak at various conferences or seminars happening throughout the month, or to spend time with their expatriate communities in Rome. Some of those events will be partisan and will be aimed at influencing the synod in one way or another, but not all.
Which cardinal shows up to which of those events will also provide a glimpse of what sort of issues are on their minds. The synod for some also provides an opportunity for prelates from the same region to get to know one another better, as they often stay in the same places, other than those belonging to a religious congregation who tend to prefer to stay in a community house or residence.
For example, all American bishops and synod delegates participating in this month’s discussion will be staying at the Pontifical North American College, the American seminary in Rome, meaning that if they have no other commitments, they will generally have meals together, celebrate liturgies together and relax together.
This is a unique opportunity for them, as biannual meetings of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops last just three days, whereas in October the delegates, who represent varying points of view on the contentious issues that will be discussed, will be together for a month.
The same will be true for delegates coming from other regions or national bishops’ conferences: they will be spending lots of time together regardless of their differences of opinion.
Likewise, the cardinals will have an entire month together, talking and perhaps forging new friendships. It will be an opportunity for those who have been cardinals longer to get to know the new ones, and a chance for newer cardinals to get to know their more senior brethren.
Cardinals eligible to vote in the next papal election will undoubtedly take advantage of the synod to get to know the men who will join them one day in electing the next pope, or who might be a candidate.
One hallmark of this synod emphasised by organisers is that there is no pre-set agenda. There will reportedly be much more time for group work, and the aim is to have a frank, open and honest discussion.
Should that spirit of openness and frankness be maintained, it will be all the more important for the cardinals attending to hear the thoughts of their peers on the condition and future of the Church.
What synod organisers have struggled to get across throughout the process, which formally began in October 2021 at the diocesan level and will conclude next year with a second Rome-based gathering, is that as a synod on “synodality”, a concept aimed at making the Church more welcoming and inclusive, the synod will not seek solutions to any of the large issues that have come up. Rather, it is a synod on ecclesiology – what the Church is, how it acts and therefore how it responds to issues of modern interest.
In that sense, for cardinals, getting to speak with fellow cardinals and hear their opinions will be an invaluable experience going into the next conclave, whenever that might occur.
So, while the discussion itself will be a compelling event for the Catholic Church, it is well worth paying attention to what happens outside the synod hall, since what goes on behind the scenes might turn out to be more important for the direction global Catholicism takes in the future.
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