Synod: Between Contracts and Pressures

Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, Jesuit and former Prefect of the DDF, announced that he had asked the Pope to be “dispensed” from attending the meetings of the Synod on Synodality scheduled for October 4 to 29—an unexpected absence which will please more than one on the border of the Rhine, where the opposition to the former “guardian of the Faith” in the German Synodal Path had already been noticed and not much appreciated. It’s important to note that the last weeks were not ones of much rest for Ladaria.

The letter of Pope Francis naming his successor at the DDF charged him not to repeat the “immoral methods” of his predecessors: “The Dicastery over which you will preside in other times came to use immoral methods.” This was doubtless not much appreciated.

“Those were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were pursued. What I expect from you is certainly something very different,” again the Supreme Pontiff declared.

Moreover, according to many Italian news outlets, the decision of the Spanish porporato had been made a few hours after a statement published on September 18 by the diocese of Rome, the authority which leads the first diocese of Christianity, in the name of the Roman pontiff, and which Francis reformed in January.

In a statement that called into question the DDF’s investigation of the Ivan Rupnik case, the diocese of Rome wrote that the Slovenian Jesuit was presumed guilty of numerous abuses of people reputed to be vulnerable persons: “On the basis of abundant documentary material studied, the Visitor could note and report the execution of gravely abnormal procedures.”

Such blows dealt to the one Pope Francis had chosen to succeed Cardinal Müller perhaps played a part in his decision not to participate in a synod which risks turning into a free-for-all in which the image of the Church will not come out any better and of which he would only play the part of a figurehead.

“Pure fantasy,” was the counterattack of the Press Office of the Holy See, which, in an uncommon occurrence, attempted to dispel the rumors: “Concerning the press articles relating to the reasons for which Cardinal Ferrer will not participate in the next synod assembly, in accordance with His Eminence, we clarify that these reconstructions have no foundation and are the fruits of pure fantasy.

“The truth of the matter is that after reaching the end of his mandate as Prefect of the DDF, Cardinal Ladaria, nearly 80 years old, asked not to participate in the synod exclusively for the reason of accumulated fatigue and his desire to take a little rest,” stated the Vatican in a clarification on September 23.

A coincidence in timing? Immediately after the decision of the cardinal, the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) decided to make public a letter sent to the Vatican last June, in which they had asked the supreme pontiff to clearly give his response to the propositions voted beyond the Rhine by the Synodal Path.

The propositions which go against the Constitution of the Church and against those of Cardinal Ladaria were brought up. What is certain is that the publication of the German demands had the effect of putting pressure on the Vatican on the eve of a dangerous synod.