Instrumentum Laboris 2024 (2)

Synods in the History of the Church

Synodal assemblies—called councils or synods—are not lacking in Church history. They can be local or at the level of the whole Church, as with the ecumenical councils. In all these meetings, only ecclesiastics are present.

After Vatican II, an ecumenical council is no longer always considered the subject of supreme power. This erroneous novelty does not distinguish the “subject of power” which is unique (the Pope) and “the exercise of this power” which is the Pope alone or with the bishops. On the other hand, as with the Dutch pastoral “Council,” begun during Vatican II, the laity participated in the assembly.

Other “synods” followed this path, such as the Synod of Würzburg. This accession of the laity provoked a clarification from Rome and a precision in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which gave the proportion of laity acceptable in such meetings as less than half.

The People of God Are Equipped with the Powers of the Hierarchy

The recent conception of synodality is not without impact on the very structure of the Church. Three elements, which constantly recur, are representative of this modification.

First of all, the importance given to the sensus fidei. Then, the flattening of the hierarchical structure of the Church appears in the denial of the “pyramidal way of exercising authority” and the promotion of “a synodal way,” marked by the concept of “co-responsibility.” Finally, baptism is taken as the foundation of the common priesthood, placing all members of the Church on equal footing.

These three ideas are presented in the text of the International Theological Commission (ITC), which describes, following Pope Francis, the Church as an inverted pyramid. 

Since the synodal Church includes “the entire holy People of God,” these three ideas give striking relief to the image of the inverted pyramid, because they make the laity participate in the three powers of the hierarchy.

Teaching Power

In no. 58, the IL explains that, “For this ecclesial task of discernment, the Holy Spirit bestows the sensus fidei, which can be described as “the instinctive capacity to discern the new ways that the Lord is revealing to the Church” (Francis, Address for the 50th Anniversary of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops, 17 October 2015)” (p.26-27). 

In other words, the infallibility of this sensus fidei is not, for the People of God, found in the teaching of the hierarchy alone. According to traditional doctrine, the sensus fidei appears as deriving from the doctrine preached by the teaching Church—the bishops. 

Power of Jurisdiction

In no. 13, the IL explains that “the collaboration of all the baptized is to be practiced as an act of co-responsibility.” This principle is supplemented by various mechanisms, such as “transparency and accountability, which are essential to fostering the mutual trust necessary for walking together and exercising co-responsibility for the sake of the common mission.”

Power of Order

No. 37 recalls: “The ordained cannot think of themselves as isolated individuals [...] but as sharers in the gifts (munera) conferred by ordination, which are Christ’s, [...] in collegiality with other ordained ministers and in an organic bond with the People of God of which he is a part and which, albeit in a different way, shares in those same gifts of Christ in the common priesthood founded on Baptism.” The principle is therefore the common priesthood; the ordained ministry appears as a complement or a derivative.

Concrete Proposals

Promotion of Lay Ministers

Also called “baptismal ministries” in the text, there is a proposal to increase the powers of the laity in ministry. There is talk of “extraordinary ministers of baptism” and of permitting the “lay faithful, men or women, to assist at weddings.” However, the document continues that there should be “further consideration” about how to “promote more forms of lay ministry, including outside the liturgical sphere.” For example, a “ministry of listening and accompaniment.”

Reimagining of the Ordained Ministry

“A reimagining of the ordained ministry within the horizon of the missionary synodal Church is thus [...] a demand for coherence,” which “will entail a new way of thinking about and organizing pastoral action, which takes into account the participation of all baptized men and women.”

Denial of the Preeminence of the Bishop

The text explains that, “The fact that ‘the fullness of the sacrament of order is conferred by episcopal consecration’ (LG 21) is not the justification for an episcopal ministry that is ‘monarchical’.” This point is directly opposed to the entire tradition of the Church, and even to Vatican II.

Reduction of the Responsibility of the Hierarchy

The text states that, “In a synodal Church, the responsibility of the bishop, the College of bishops and the Roman Pontiff to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church established by Christ. However, it is not unconditional. An orientation that emerges in the consultative process as the outcome of proper discernment [...] cannot be ignored.”

And to be clear, it is said further on: “Any opposition between consultation and deliberation is therefore inadequate: in the Church, deliberation takes place with the help of all, never without the pastoral authority that takes decisions by virtue of its office. For this reason, the recurring formula in the Code of Canon Law, which speaks of a ‘consultative vote only’ (tantum consultivum), diminishes the value of consultation and should be corrected.”

It appears the German synodal path is being ratified, because there is no alternative between “consultative” and “non-consultative.” If this formula must be modified, the consultative structure—which involves all the People of God—would obtain decision-making status. This is exactly what the Germans want.

Doctrinal Authority of the Episcopal Conferences

“From all that has been gathered so far, during this synodal process, the following proposals emerge: (a) recognition of Episcopal Conferences as ecclesial subjects endowed with doctrinal authority, assuming socio-cultural diversity within the framework of a multifaceted Church, and favouring the appreciation of liturgical, disciplinary, theological, and spiritual expressions appropriate to different socio-cultural contexts.”

Even if, further on, it is specified that, “According to the formulation provided by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium (19 March 2022), this entails leaving ‘to the competence of Bishops the authority to resolve [...] those issues with which they are familiar and that do not affect the Church’s unity of doctrine, discipline and communion, always acting with that spirit of co-responsibility [...]’ (PE II, 2).” 

This matter should not be decided differently in different places. This would be the Balkanization of the Church, and the destruction of her unity.

Ecumenical Momentum

This synodal transformation is also given as a driving force for ecumenism: “synodality is the condition for continuing the ecumenical journey towards the visible unity of all Christians.”

All these propositions show a lowering of the Catholic hierarchy and its powers and a corresponding elevation of the laity, which utterly destroys the divine constitution of the Church.