VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office has rejected the notion that synodality is “a matter of listening to everyone in order to carry out a democratic revision of doctrine and morality.”
As prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández has been a key figure in the latter years of Pope Francis’ pontificate and thus the Synod on Synodality. The synod – arguably Francis’ biggest project and legacy – has been firmly critiqued by many over its style, methodology, and openness to questioning unchanging Church teaching. Indeed, addressing the conclave which elected Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Joseph Zen described the synod’s outcome as a “matter of life and death” for the Church.
It was on this topic that Fernández spoke recently, while addressing bishops who were named in the past year. But while he opened by highlighting Leo’s commitment to the Synod on Synodality, Fernández also sought to downplay concerns about the event.
“Many priests have doubts, questions, disinterest, and rejection regarding the proposal of synodality,” said the Argentine cardinal. “Some groups see bad intentions behind this synodal process and reject it categorically. That is why it is good to separate the wheat from the chaff. To do this, it is best to start by taking criticism and mistrust seriously.”
Continuing, he stated:
If we truly pay attention to the signs of the times, we must recognize that groups have grown up that do not expect weakness and confusion, that do not want a “light” Church. Even when the Church changes certain things, it is generally hoped that this is not a whim of a few, but is based on solid reflection.
We must say no to this distorted form of synodality, which wants a democratic change of doctrine, recognizing that it is only the claim of some minority and ideologized groups.
Such an intervention is notable, since it marks perhaps the first time that widespread concerns about the Synod on Synodality have been given airtime by a prominent member of the Roman Curia.
Fernández himself is in charge of a synod study group examining a question which is already infallibly decided – namely, the possibility of women deacons. The very existence of this study group has caused much consternation from many in the Church, including prominent figures such as Cardinals Raymond Burke and Joseph Zen.
Fernández outlined various “distorted forms” of synodality, pointing to what he posited as excesses from the part of the laity and the clergy. These included seeing it as an “elitist democracy” or a survey conducting machine, a tick-box exercise or “a universal form of synodality that ignores local differences.”
Such erroneous forms of interpreting the Synod on Synodality, he said, would generate “reasonable” opposition and people react “to something that is not authentic synodality.”
But Leo XIV has outlined his promotion of the synod, noted Fernández, hence the path forges ahead. “Faced with the new Pope, some hoped that he would slow down a little with this story of synodality. Instead, Pope Leo expressed a strong desire to continue on the path of synodality.”
With this in mind, the cardinal offered his interpretation of the meaning of synodality – a notable instance as definitions of the term have been lacking from the Vatican so far. He stated:
A synodal journey means first and foremost that all members of the Church are involved in evangelization, so as to form a participatory communion. It is not just a matter of holding fraternal meetings, but of everyone participating and contributing so that a diocese can be fruitful in its mission. No one would deny the value of this proposal. However, it is one thing not to deny it and another to fully realize it.
Referencing a poignant quotation from Pope Francis’ response to the dubia on the synod submitted by Cardinal Raymond Burke and four other cardinals, Fernández added that the synod “is about seeking various ways in which the whole Church can truly be experienced as a people.” At the time of the dubia in 2023, Fernández made the notable move of publicly responding to and rebuking Burke and his fellow dubia signatories.
Drawing once again from Pope Francis, Fernández posited the synod and synodality itself as an identity for the Church: “But above all, it is a way of being and acting that must characterize the whole Church, from the most remote country chapel to the universal Church.”
Indeed, Francis previously stated in Canada in 2022 that “the Church is either synodal or it is not Church.”
As should be expected, Fernández’s defense of synodality continued at greater length, drawing from the customary language and passages espoused and employed by the synod architects over recent years. Throughout this defense, he argued strongly that synodality must mean everyone acting in accord, creating a peculiar example to try and evidence his message:
Of course, the priest presides over the Eucharist, which is the source of life, but he can cause the Eucharist itself to lose its fruitfulness when he no longer creates the conditions around him for people to open themselves more and more to the action of the Eucharist…
On the other hand, those who live and work synodally in their community have thousands of different friends from whom they receive multiple stimuli to develop a ministry full of richness, reflecting the inexhaustible richness of the Gospel and the inexhaustible fruitfulness of divine grace. Then, yes, the Eucharist they celebrate is a sign and source of life and communion.
Similarly present were themes often used by Pope Francis:
A synodal Church with a missionary heart is never an implacable judge who bars the way.
This openness to all is essential in true “synodality,” which truly widens the tent of the Church, rather than transforming it into a collection of small power groups.
Fernández ended with a note that, while not a strident as some of the voices at the synod, nevertheless embodied the spirit which they practice. Conversing about the impact of the synod on the priesthood, he said:
Of course, a synodality that truly makes the priestly ministry fruitful calls us to a true conversion, and requires time, time for specific, practical, and not only doctrinal formation, time for the exercise of lay charisms and maturation in this exercise. But if we do not begin, we will never get there.
Such language – “if we do not begin, we will never get there” – is indeed emblematic of that used by the move vocal pro-LGBT and female ordination activists at the synod.
It suggests that Fernández, whilst rowing back some of the vigor and invective of these activists, is nevertheless pushing ahead with the synodal project bequeathed by Francis and appearing to be continued by Leo.
