The collegiality paradox facing Pope Francis

The Synod of Bishops on the Family has highlighted what I call the “paradox of collegiality” for Pope Francis.

The pope clearly wants to share his governing authority with bishops, giving them a bigger voice in decision-making in Rome and more latitude in their home dioceses. He also wants them on board as he shifts the church’s missionary approach to a more “merciful” and invitational style, less focused on doctrinal rules.

But the pope is working with a global episcopate largely put in place by his two predecessors, whose emphasis on doctrinal identity-building was very much reflected in their choice of bishops.

In the Pope John Paul II era, I was told that candidates for bishop nominations were routinely vetted regarding their views on a series of hot-button pastoral and doctrinal issues, including such things as birth control, dissent from the Magisterium, priestly celibacy, women’s ordination and the role of laity, to name a few.

It was a “litmus test” approach aimed at ensuring orthodoxy at the highest levels of the church. The Catholic Church is diverse, of course, and so are its bishops. But over a 35-year period, this policy made for a more conservative hierarchy.

The Synod on the Family has shown what happens when such a cautious and doctrinally-focused episcopate encounters a pope’s agenda for change. Many of today’s bishops are afraid that “mercy” without doctrinal backbone is a very slippery slope, especially when it comes to issues like divorce, cohabitation, gay relationships and birth control.

In a sense, I think the synod’s two sessions have been a place where these bishops can register reservations not only about specific pastoral proposals, but also about the entire “who am I to judge” approach of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis has been appointing bishops since his election in 2013, of course, and his choices appear to reflect his pastoral outlook. So how long does it take before he can really “shape” the world’s episcopate?

A long time.

In his 31 months in office, Francis has appointed 456 bishops, according to the Vatican’s statistics office. That is about 9 percent of the total number of bishops, and about 13 percent of the active (non-retired) bishops in the world.

Extrapolating those numbers, it will take the pope another seven or eight years before he will have named more than half the active bishops. I’m sure the pope realizes that, for quite some time, he will have to work with an episcopate that may at times act as a check on his innovative pastoral proposals.

Papal nominations of cardinals are important for different reasons, including an eventual conclave that can preserve a pope’s legacy and carry it forward or shift directions.

Pope Francis has already named 31 of the current 118 voting members (those under age 80) of the College of Cardinals, or 26 percent. However, because of an unusual age pattern in the college, it will likely take him another four or five years before he will have named a majority of the voting-age cardinals, i.e., more than 60 of the 120 voting-age cardinals allowed under current rules.

For those reasons, a relatively long pontificate for Francis may be important not only in building consensus on immediate issues, but also in long-term effects. As one bishop recently remarked, when he wishes Pope Francis a long life of “100 years” in the traditional Roman toast, he really means it.

German bishops may point way forward as synod draws to close

It’s increasingly clear that the German bishops are leading the way forward from the Synod on the Family, with proposals worthy of reflection and development by Pope Francis.

Unlike most of the synod’s 13 language groups, the German-speaking participants have approached their task with a fairly clear sense of mission: find a consensus, where possible, and indicate some potential new directions.

With only three days to go in this second synod assembly, reading through many of the group reports might lead one to despair of any real agreement on the tougher questions being raised: Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, pastoral policies for cohabitating couples, language (less condemnatory vs. denunciation of sin), and outreach to homosexuals.

The reports indicated a widespread split in positions on these questions – and not much more than that. From the outside, at least, it seems like this synod was a three-week round of infighting and restatement of positions, but with very little openness to reflection and change.

The Germans, however, managed to deliver two reports that were remarkable in having the unanimous agreement of the entire group. That is significant, because it includes Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has strongly pushed for a way to welcome divorced and remarried Catholics back to the sacraments, and Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation and one of the strongest critics of that proposal.

They apparently pulled this off not just by negotiating, but by some deeper theological reflection – something that appears to be lacking in other groups.

Speaking at today’s Vatican press briefing, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich underlined the group’s unanimity and said the Germans were well aware that the eyes of other synod participants were on them. The thinking was that if the Germans, with their diverse views, could come together, “maybe it would be a good sign for the others,” he said.

Marx told reporters that there was, of course, much fundamental agreement in their group, as well as in the synod hall and in society at large, about the value of marriage.

“Most of the people agree with the center of the doctrine of the church: that one man and one woman will want to be together forever, they say yes and they mean yes, they found a family and they want children. That is the great majority of the people I know,” the cardinal said.

“But they want to hear from the church, what will happen when we fail? Will you stay with us when we fail? And we have to say, yes, we will stay with you when you fail,” he said.

In the case of Catholics who divorce and remarry civilly without an annulment, Cardinal Marx said the German group proposed a pastoral solution that could allow a return to the sacraments after a process in which pastors guide an individual toward a decision of conscience.

This process of reflection in conscience, sometimes referred to as the “internal forum,” would be personal and private, but would follow certain criteria, perhaps under guidelines established by Rome, Marx said.

An individual who had divorced and civilly remarried, for example, would be asked to reflect on his or her responsibilities to a first spouse and family, reconciliation with those who have been hurt, relationships with children and reputation in the church community.

“Then you can find a way (to see) if and when it might be possible to make a full reconciliation,” he said. (It should be noted that debate over such use of the “internal forum,” for this and other difficult pastoral situations, has been simmering in the church for more than 40 years.)

Cardinal Marx noted that the German group’s discussion of these issues went beyond just “stating an opinion.” Theologians like Saint Thomas Aquinas were often quoted. “And when Cardinal Kasper and Cardinal Mueller and Cardinal (Cristophe) Schonborn are talking about Saint Thomas, that is very interesting!” he said.

As for those who have warned that any move toward allowing divorced Catholics to receive Communion would represent an attack on church doctrine, Cardinal Marx said it was important to remember that doctrine exists on many levels, and that it develops over the centuries.

“The doctrine of the church is not a closed shop, but a living tradition,” he said. This is clearly seen in the writings of different popes about marriage, or the development of doctrine in various church councils. “We don’t change the truth, but we find the greater truth,” he said.

The German group report began with an unusual statement criticizing unnamed synod participants for language that was not in line with the spirit of the synod. Asked about this, Cardinal Marx said referred to statements reportedly made by Australian George Pell in an interview with a French newspaper, in which Cardinal Pell spoke of a synod battle between “Kasperians” and “Ratzingerians.”

Marx said: “We thought that is not acceptable language and not useful for the synod to speak in this way.”

Several of the other language groups reported mixed views on the issues listed above. Most of the reports fell into a “some said … while others said” category. On the question of Communion for divorced and remarried, more than one group asked for further reflection by a commission named by Pope Francis, which at this point seems a likely outcome.

The impression left after reading through the reports is that synod participants will be glad to go home. In recent days, many of the participants have sounded like passengers on a white-knuckle flight that is preparing for a tricky landing – perhaps hoping that the pope is in the pilot’s seat.

Cardinal Napier has praise for synod process, Pope Francis’ leadership

South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier has made himself a protagonist of the Synod on the Family, so his appearance at today’s Vatican press briefing stirred interest among reporters.

Cardinal Napier’s “bottom line” judgment on this session of the synod: it’s been far more pastoral than prophetic. I don’t think he necessarily meant that in a good way.

“When we look at the problems we’ve been studying during these three weeks, there are two possibilities. One is to look at it from the pastoral point of view, when you’re trying to reach out to people and minister to them. The other one, which I would say has been de-emphasized during this time, and even during the synod last year, is the prophetic, where like John the Baptist you say: ‘You’ve got to repent, and these are the sins’ and you name them,” the cardinal said.

“This has certainly been a very much more pastoral synod, looking at how can the church be a servant and minister to those people in difficult situations. There’s been a lot of emphasis on using language that doesn’t offend – politically correct language, if you like. I’m not sure that’s the best way to be prophetic. It’s certainly a way of trying to be more pastoral.”

As for the modified synod process, which had come under fire from several conservative bishops, Cardinal Napier said he was satisfied that diverse points of view had been fairly heard. Napier was reportedly one of 13 cardinals who signed a letter to Pope Francis at the start of the synod, questioning whether the new procedures were aimed at reaching foregone conclusions that would weaken church teaching.

But with the synod drawing to a close, Napier told reporters that the new process was “very helpful,” because it gave participants more discussion time in small groups. In general, he said, African bishops are coming out of the synod with a “sense of optimism” and appreciation for “the witness of Pope Francis and the way he is leading the church.”

Like several other bishops at the synod, Napier said there was a deep need for better preparation for marriage among Catholic laity. Having listened to reports, especially in Western countries, about the many marriages ending in divorce, Napier said African bishops “don’t want the same thing to happen to us.”

Marriage preparation, however, should not merely be a course that lasts a few weeks or months, but a longer process that looks at how marriage should be discerned as a “vocation,” on a par with the priesthood or religious life, he said.

On the issue of cohabitation, however, Napier argued that more leniency should be granted couples in Africa, for whom, he said, living together before marriage is often more a “step” in the marriage process than a rejection of matrimony or a trial marriage. “Cohabitation in our case is pro-marriage, not against marriage,” he said.

“In regard to the traditional African marriage custom, first of all it’s not a marriage between two individuals but between two families. So there’s a whole process of negotiation,” he said.

When a dowry is established by the bride’s family, the cardinal said, often it may take a young man a very long time, perhaps years, to raise the money to cover it. “In the meantime, the families could agree that at a certain point they would start living together as husband and wife, even though the marriage is not yet concluded,” he said.

The cardinal said the term “cohabitation” doesn’t really fit that African experience. In the West, he said, couples may also live together for economic or other reasons, but it’s not the same. He added that it was up to African bishops to make sure that “that particular custom does get incorporated into the sacrament of matrimony.”

That, of course, would be a major change. The same issue was discussed at the African synod, held at the Vatican in 1994, and there’s been no significant action on it since. But Napier said he thought that “with Pope Francis’ lead,” African bishops will have a new impetus for studying the issue.

It sounds to me like Cardinal Napier is eager to explore the opening toward more local decision-making that Pope Francis raised during his speech last weekend, when he spoke of a more “synodal” and collegial exercise of authority in the church.

According to the U.S. bishops, almost half the couples who come in for marriage preparation courses in local parishes are cohabitating. The rates of cohabitation across Africa are generally much lower, but studies indicate they are increasing in some countries, both as a prelude to marriage and an alternative to marriage.

Cardinal Napier said a separate and dramatic problem for African families is the high number of single-parent families and  “child-headed households,” in families where HIV-AIDS has left both parents dead.