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Pope Francis - Closing Address To Synod


BarbTherese

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http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-speech-at-the-conclusion-of-the-synod

 

Excerpt only........".... And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:

 

 - One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

 

 - The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

 

 - The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

 

 - The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God

.

 - The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…..........

 

 

........................Dear brothers and sisters, the temptations must not frighten or disconcert us, or even discourage us, because no disciple is greater than his master; so if Jesus Himself was tempted – and even called Beelzebul (cf. Mt 12:24) – His disciples should not expect better treatment.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.

One year to work on the “Synodal Relatio” which is the faithful and clear summary of everything that has been said and discussed in this hall and in the small groups. It is presented to the Episcopal Conferences as “lineamenta” [guidelines]."

 

Read full text on above link

 

 

Edited by BarbaraTherese
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PhuturePriest

I'm not nearly as optimistic about the end-result as others seem to be. It is, however, much better than the last draft, which was a complete train wreck and might as well have said "Screw Infallible Doctrine, feelings are where it's at!"

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Catholictothecore

I agree with Future Packer in that I'm not nearly as optimistic. I don't know why. I think they wI'll come up with fine teaching. That absolutely no one will care enough about to allow it to make real change.

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I think the whole thing has been a media rollercoaster that has made the church seem like it was flip flopping and divided over issues. Some church insiders and the media seemed happy to portray the mid term question and reflection draft as the consensus of the meeting, which seems to have misled people. I'm interested to see how this all works out before, and during, the synod next year.  I imagine there will be discussions, alliances formed and speculation in the interim period. I do, despite all this, see some sign that these discussions may generate an openess and shift in ideas which will lead to momentum and change somewhere else down the line, even if not during this synod process.

 

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PhuturePriest

I agree with Archbishop Gadecki that this Synod has done far, far more damage than ultimate good. It has made the Church look like it wasn't merciful and understanding before, but now that we have this new great Pope and we're rid of that mean-faced Kraut who represented the pre-Vatican II Church, the curtains have finally been lifted and now we're open and loving to everyone.

 

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/10/president-of-polish-episcopal.html

 

Again, I could be wrong, but that is the general sentiments that have been given to me, and it's certainly the sentiment being run in the media.

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I think that it is the media, for one only, that has done any damage to The Church and not the first time nor the last I suspect.  Pope Francis did state that this immediate past section of the Synod was to be a completely open discussion and sharing of thoughts, which it was.  What has come out of it forms a sort of agenda, as I see it, for the final Synod in 2015 - hence we can anticipate and expect all sorts of comments from all sorts of avenues out of Rome and other places including the media.  Hence as Pope Francis has said, the coming 12 months will be very interesting months to conclude re his comments more than paraphrase.  What he said was:

 

"Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.

One year to work on the “Synodal Relatio” which is the faithful and clear summary of everything that has been said and discussed in this hall and in the small groups. It is presented to the Episcopal Conferences as “lineamenta” [guidelines]."

 

I read the entire closing address of Pope Francis also and I found it beautiful and also very challenging indeed - and no matter what your position might be: Church doctrine and nothing but the doctrine and on the other hand a desire for a more merciful Church, Pope Francis very cleverly I thought put us all 'in a hole' and it gave me a big smile.  My conclusion after reading his final address was that we are all challenged by our Holy Father to take a long hard look at ourselves.

 

I think that the coming 12 months will be an absolute roller coaster putting the past couple of months right in the shade.  And just as the closing address of Pope Francis was a surprise to most I suspect - I think that the results of the Synod at its conclusion in 2015 just might be a big surprise too.

 

May The Holy Spirit continue to lead Pope Francis and all of us!

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I think that it is the media, for one only, that has done any damage to The Church and not the first time nor the last I suspect.  Pope Francis did state that this immediate past section of the Synod was to be a completely open discussion and sharing of thoughts, which it was.  What has come out of it forms a sort of agenda, as I see it, for the final Synod in 2015 - hence we can anticipate and expect all sorts of comments from all sorts of avenues out of Rome and other places including the media.  Hence as Pope Francis has said, the coming 12 months will be very interesting months to conclude re his comments more than paraphrase.  What he said was:

 

 

The trouble is that a lot of things were 'discussed' which should not have been, because they are closed subjects. To discuss them as the Synod did lends legitimacy to Kasper's and Forte's errors. Imagine if someone proposed an extraordinary synod to discuss whether or not Christ was truly the Son of God. Obviously that is a very extreme example, but imagine it. Some questions are not meant to be re-opened.

 

 

Q:  But what you say is not coming out of the daily briefing from the Vatican Press Office.  Cardinal Müller has also complained about this.
 
A:  I do not know how this “briefing” works, but it seems to me that something is not working well if the information is manipulated in a way so as to stress only one position instead of reporting faithfully the various positions that were expressed.  This worries me very much, because a consistent number of bishops do not accept the idea of a break with traditional Church teaching, but few know this.  They speak only of the necessity for the Church to open herself up to the clamorous urging of the world as Cardinal Kasper propounded in February.  In reality, his thesis on the theme of the family and on a new form of discipline with respect to the divorced and remarried is not new.  It was already discussed thirty years ago.  Then from this February on it took on a new life,  and it has been allowed to grow in a not innocent way.   But this must stop, because it is provoking the possibility of great damage to the faith.  Bishops and priests say to me that now that so many divorced and remarried men and women are asking to be admitted to Holy Communion because this is what Pope Francis wants.  In reality, I take note that, to the contrary, he has not expressed himself on this subject.
 
Q:  But it seems evident that Cardinal Kasper and those who speak in agreement with him claim that they have the support of the Pope.
 
A:  This is true.  The Pope named Cardinal Kasper to the Synod and has let the debate go along this track.  But, as another Cardinal has said, the Pope has not given his pronouncement on all of this as yet.  I am awaiting his pronouncement, which is able to be only in continuity with the teaching given by the Church through her whole history, a teaching that has never changed because it cannot change.
 
Q:  Some prelates who support the traditional doctrine say that if the Pope should makes changes (in that doctrine) they would support those changes.  Is this not a contradiction?
 
A:  Yes, it is a contradiction, because the Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ on earth and therefore the chief servant of the truth of the faith.  Knowing the teaching of Christ, I do not see how it is possible to deviate from that teaching with a doctrinal declaration or with a pastoral practice that ignores truth.
 
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The various temptations we might face as Pope Francis sees it in his final Synod address - and probably most all of us and including those bishops attending the Synod can identify themselves in more than one of the following temptations..........anyway, I can certainly see myself in more than one of them and my aforementioned conclusion just might be merely a projection.

 

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/135929-pope-francis-closing-address-to-synod/?p=2705397

Excerpts from Pope Francis's closing address to the Synod

 

 - temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

 

 - The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

 

 - The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

 

 - The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

 

 - The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

 

 

The interesting thing to me is that Pope Francis can now probably clearly identify where each of his bishops he chose to comprise the Synod now stand in relation to various matters.  I think he ensured this by stating that this immediate past assembly of the Synod was to be a very open discussion between the bishops attending.  I think probably many do have personal opinions about various doctrines - while unreservedly maintaining a strict obedience to the Magisterium and our doctrines, recognising a far superior wisdom to their own.

 

Scripture (from which our theology and doctrines in the main are formed) is an inexhaustible treasury - and our God is indeed the God of The Surprise.  What does that mean in concrete terms just now? I have no idea whatsoever.  What comes to mind for me is that in our past history we burned heretics at the stake absolutely convinced in conscience that we were acting for God and the good of souls.  Nothing has changed in our doctrines since those times, just our treatment of those who disagree.

 

Probably from hereon in up to and including and after the final meeting of the Synod in 2015 all sorts of commentaries are going to come out from all sorts of people both in The Church and without, including media.  Personally, I am quite content to not take a great deal of notice of any and all conclusions until the Synod is a fait accompli in 2015.

 

What I think the media and others have failed to note is that this past immediate section of the Synod was indeed only a very open and honest discussion between the bishops on various matters and that the summary of that section was to be a sort of agenda for the 2015 Synod.  Possibly in a particular diocese, there may be particular problems being experienced by a large majority of the people in that diocese and I think that it was ok and in fact very important that the bishops present the concerns of his people.

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http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1404119.htm

Pope tells bishops at family synod to speak fearlessly, listen humbly

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis opened the first working session of an extraordinary Synod of Bishops Oct. 6, urging participants to speak fearlessly and listen humbly during two weeks of discussion of the "pastoral challenges of the family."

 

 

Excerpts from above only :

 "Let nobody say: 'I can't say this; they'll think such-and-such about me,'" Pope Francis told more than 180 bishops and more than 60 other synod participants. "Everyone needs to say what one feels duty-bound in the Lord to say: without respect for human considerations, without fear. And, at the same time, one must listen with humility and welcome with an open heart what the brothers say."

The pope recalled that, after a gathering of the world's cardinals in February, one cardinal told him others had hesitated to speak out for fear of disagreeing with the pope.

"This is no good, this is not synodality," the pope said.


Later in the morning, Cardinal Erdo, who as the synod's relator has the task of guiding the discussion and synthesizing its results, gave an hour-long speech that drew on written statements submitted in advance by the synod fathers and on responses to a well-publicized questionnaire sent to the world's bishops last November.

The Oct. 5-19 synod is not supposed to reach definitive conclusions but set the agenda for a larger world synod in October 2015, which will make recommendations to the pope.

Cardinal Erdo said the synods would seek to develop shared pastoral "guidelines to help those living in difficult situations," so that individual bishops would not resort to the "improvisations of a do-it-yourself ministry."


"What is being discussed at this synod of an intense pastoral nature are not doctrinal issues, but the practical ones, nevertheless inseparable from the truths of the faith," the cardinal said.

Among the difficult family situations he identified was .......................

 

To read entire article, go to above link

 

 

 

 

Vatican Website - List or Index of addresses etc. etc. pertaining to:

 

Synod of Bishops

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/

 

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Canon Law http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P18.HTM

CHAPTER II.

THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS
 

 

Can. 342 The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.

 

Can. 343 It is for the synod of bishops to discuss the questions for consideration and express its wishes but not to resolve them or issue decrees about them unless in certain cases the Roman Pontiff has endowed it with deliberative power, in which case he ratifies the decisions of the synod.

 

Can. 344 The synod of bishops is directly subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff who:

1/ convokes a synod as often as it seems opportune to him and designates the place where its sessions are to be held;

2/ radios the election of members who must be elected according to the norm of special law and designates and appoints other members;

3/ determines at an appropriate time before the celebration of a synod the contents of the questions to be treated, according to the norm of special law;

4/ defines the agenda;

5/ presides at the synod personally or through others;

6/ concludes, transfers, suspends, and dissolves the synod.

 

Can. 345 The synod of bishops can be assembled in a general session, that is, one which treats matters that directly pertain to the good of the universal Church; such a session is either ordinary or extraordinary. It can also be assembled in a special session, namely, one which considers affairs that directly pertain to a determinate region or regions.

 

Can. 346 §1. A synod of bishops assembled in an ordinary general session consists of members of whom the greater part are bishops elected for each session by the conferences of bishops according to the method determined by the special law of the synod; others are designated by virtue of the same law; others are appointed directly by the Roman Pontiff; to these are added some members of clerical religious institutes elected according to the norm of the same special law.

 

§2. A synod of bishops gathered in an extraordinary general session to treat affairs which require a speedy solution consists of members of whom the greater part are bishops designated by the special law of the synod by reason of the office which they hold; others are appointed directly by the Roman Pontiff; to these are added some members of clerical religious institutes elected according to the norm of the same law.

 

§3. A synod of bishops gathered in a special session consists of members especially selected from those regions for which it was called, according to the norm of the special law which governs the synod.

 

Can. 347 §1. When the Roman Pontiff concludes a session of the synod of bishops, the function entrusted in it to the bishops and other members ceases.

 

§2. If the Apostolic See becomes vacant after a synod is convoked or during its celebration, the session of the synod and the function entrusted to its members are suspended by the law itself until the new Pontiff has decided to dissolve or continue the session.

 

Can. 348 §1. The synod of bishops has a permanent general secretariat presided offer by a general secretary who is appointed by the Roman Pontiff and assisted by the council of the secretariat. This council consists of bishops, some of whom are elected by the synod of bishops itself according to the norm of special law while others are appointed by the Roman Pontiff. The function of all these ceases when a new general session begins.

 

§2. Furthermore, for each session of the synod of bishops one or more special secretaries are constituted who are appointed by the Roman Pontiff and remain in the office entrusted to them only until the session of the synod has been completed.

 

 

 

More information : http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/2014-2015-synods-of-bishops-on-the-family.cfm#ordinary

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