October 8, 2024 // National

Second Session of Synod Opens in Rome

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

ROME – Nearly a year after the conclusion of the first session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, Bishop Rhoades and other members of the synod returned to Rome in late September to finish the work they began last year – this time, with more clear directives and a more focused approach.

Many of the controversial issues that were broached during the first session last October are off the table during this second assembly, relegated to special study groups formed by Pope Francis in March that will explore subjects such as the role of women in the Church, the formation of priests and deacons, a possible revision to how bishops are chosen, and others. This was done, Pope Francis wrote in March, so that members of the synod could “focus more easily on the general theme that I assigned to it at the time, and which can now be summarized in the question: ‘How to be a synodal Church in mission?’”

It was announced on Monday, October 7, that members of the synod will dialogue with these study groups during a special session on Friday, October 18.

After just two days at the synod, Bishop Rhoades told Today’s Catholic, which was in Rome for the opening of the synod, that this more intentional approach will help the delegates focus on the mission at hand.

“I think it was very wise to narrow down the topics that we’re going to talk about so that we have really substantial fruits at the synod,” said Bishop Rhoades, who was elected as secretary for his group of delegates. “And I think just that the idea of how to be a more missionary synodal Church, it’s much more focused – much more focused. And I can tell already just in the first few days that I feel that the discussions are more substantive and will be more fruitful.”

Church Must Ask Pardon for Its Sins, Pope Says

Before the second and final session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops began, Pope Francis felt it was imperative to hold a penitential liturgy where the Church acknowledged and asked forgiveness of specific and egregious sins. The Church cannot be credible in its mission of proclaiming Christ unless it acknowledges its mistakes and bends down “to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins,” Pope Francis said during the liturgy, held at St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday, October 1, at the conclusion of a two-day spiritual retreat for the 368 members of the synod.

The pope had seven cardinals read requests for forgiveness that he said he wrote himself “because it was necessary to call our main sins by name.” The sins included abuse, a lack of courage and commitment to peace, lack of respect for every human life, mistreatment of women or failure to acknowledge their talents and contributions, using Church teaching as weapons to hurl at others, lack of concern for the poor, and a failure to recognize the dignity and role of every baptized person in the Church.

In what it believes and how it proclaims the faith, Pope Francis said, the Church is “always relational, and only by healing sick relationships can we become a synodal Church,” one in which all members listen to each other and share responsibility for its mission.

The liturgy included the testimonies of three witnesses to crime and sin: Laurence Gien, who as an 11-year-old boy in South Africa was raped by a priest; Sara Vatteroni, who works for the Italian bishops’ conference in assisting migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, accompanied by Solange, a migrant from the Ivory Coast; and Sister Deema Fayyad, a member of the Al-Khalil Monastic Community in Syria, talking about the impact of war.

Gien told the pope and synod members, “The faces of the abused are too often blurred, hidden behind a veil of secrecy that the Church, historically, has been complicit in maintaining. This anonymity serves to protect the perpetrators rather than the victims, making it harder for survivors to find justice and for communities to heal.”

Retired Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, read the request for pardon of abuse.

“How much shame and pain I feel when considering especially the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, abuses that have stolen innocence and profaned the sacredness of those who are weak and helpless,” the cardinal said, reading the prayer written by the pope. “I ask forgiveness, feeling shame, for all the times we have used the condition of ordained ministry and consecrated life to commit this terrible sin, feeling safe and protected while we were profiting diabolically from the little ones and the poor,” he continued. “Forgive us, Lord.”

On the eve of the synod, Pope Francis said, it is important for Church members to confess in order to “restore trust in the Church and toward her, a trust shattered by our mistakes and sins, and to begin to heal the wounds that do not stop bleeding, breaking ‘the chains of wickedness.’”

Bishop Rhoades told Today’s Catholic that “the penitential service seemed to be an important part of the synod, because our Christian life is one of ongoing conversion and repentance. We all have to repent as individuals but also as a community.” He added that holding the service the day before the beginning of the synod, and getting a chance to listen to those who shared their testimonies, will help to set a tone for the discussions during the synod.

The Vision of a Welcoming Church

Pope Francis officially opened the synod with Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the morning of Wednesday, October 2 – the feast of the Holy Angels.

In his homily, the pope urged the faithful – including members of the synod – to consider “three images as starting points for our consideration: voice, refuge, and a child.”

Regarding “voice,” Pope Francis said: “God advises the people to listen to the ‘voice of the angel’ whom he had sent (Ex 23:20-22). … As we walk down the path of this synod, the Lord places in our hands the history, dreams, and hopes of a great people. They are our sisters and brothers scattered throughout the world, inspired by the same faith, moved by the same desire for holiness. With them and for them, let us strive to understand the path we must follow in order to reach the destination the Lord desires for us.” To do this, he continued, we must be willing to abandon our own agendas and preconceived notions; if we do not, “we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the deaf, where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others and, above all, without listening to the voice of the Lord.”

“Refuge,” Pope Francis said, “can be symbolized by wings that protect us” and is “a symbol of what God does for us … especially as we gather together these days.” Pope Francis noted that while there are “many strong, well-prepared people” with “brilliant insights,” we are called to have “open hearts” so that we will have the ability and desire to “relax our muscles and bend down to offer each other a welcoming embrace and a place of refuge,” because the Church is and must remain a place “where each person feels welcomed, like an infant in a mother’s arms and as a child lifted up to a father’s cheek.”

Pope Francis continued, saying: “This brings us to the third image: a child. It is Jesus Himself who, in the Gospel, ‘put a child in the midst of them,’ showing him to the disciples, inviting them to convert and become small like him.” He added that “given the importance of the synod … we must try to be great in spirit, in heart, in outlook, because the issues that we must deal with are great and delicate. … But it is precisely for this reason that we must not lose sight of the child, whom Jesus continues to place at the center of our meetings and work tables. He does so to remind us that the only way to be worthy of the task entrusted to us is to lower ourselves, to make ourselves small, and to receive one another humbly. The greatest in the Church is the one who bends down the lowest.”

He concluded: “Brothers and sisters, we begin anew our synodal path with an eye toward the world, since the Christian community is always at the service of humanity in order to announce the joy of the Gospel. In such a dramatic time in our history, when the winds of war and the flames of violence continue to devastate entire peoples and nations, there is need for this message.”

Catholic News Service contributed to this report.