2023 synod on synodality Archives

2023 synod on synodality

Catechism author says Pope could change language on LGBTQ+ issues

October 24, 2023

ROME – A celebrated prelate who helped write the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and who’s widely recognised as being among the Church’s top theologians, upheld Church teaching on LGBTQ+ issues on Friday but also said the pope has the power to change the catechism’s language describing homosexual activity as “disordered”. Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn

Designed to avoid polemics, Pope’s media blackout on synod may exacerbate them

October 23, 2023

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

Pope’s responses to ‘dubia’ pre-synod have made room for other discussion topics, participants say

October 18, 2023

ROME – Participants in the Synod of Bishops on Synodality selected by organisers to speak with the media have said Pope Francis’s comments on women priests and blessings for same-sex couples prior to the gathering eliminated the distraction of getting hung up on specific issues, thereby creating space for other topics to be addressed. The

Does the same fate await ‘synodality’ as befell ‘new evangelisation’?

October 17, 2023

ROME – As the Synod of Bishops on Synodality continues to unfold in Rome this month, it’s increasingly reminiscent of another synod just over a decade ago: The Synod of Bishops on New Evangelisation, which took place under Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 7-28, 2012. Consider the following parallels: Those similarities are already matters of record.

‘The Church is Christ’s!’: How to respond to the Synod on Synodality

October 12, 2023

When our Holy Father Pope Francis initiated the Synod on Synodality in October 2021, many gasped. Others cheered. All were interested in digging deeper: what is being discussed, who is influencing decisions made, would fundamental Catholic Church teachings be rendered null and void, would heretical doctrines be newly enforced as “inspired by the Holy Spirit”

Synod participants claim ‘no polarisation’, no plans to change doctrine on LGBT and women issues

October 12, 2023

ROME – Participants in Pope Francis’s ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality said Wednesday that Church doctrine is not up for discussion on issues such as women and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics, and that while opinions on these topics may differ, there is no “polarisation”. Speaking to journalists during an Oct. 11 press briefing,

Cardinal says Latin Mass devotees haven’t been ‘banished’ from the church

October 11, 2023

ROME – Asked about conservative Catholics who feel they are not represented in the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality, specifically Latin Mass devotees struggling with restrictions imposed by Pope Francis, American Cardinal Joseph Tobin said they still have a place in the church. Asked during an Oct. 11 press briefing whether the agenda for

‘The assumption must be faced that Pope Francis is consciously breaking with the Church’s tradition’

October 04, 2023

We can’t say we weren’t warned. On World Youth day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, Pope Francis, excited by the crowds of young people, adopted something of the energetic creativity of the teenagers he was surrounded by and exhorted them to make a mess: “I want to tell you something. What is it that I