-Analysis-
The Catholic Church has begun a synod of reforms in Rome that may be as traumatic as the Reformation or its break with the Eastern Church, 1,000 years ago.
But even if it doesn’t turn out to be as serious a schism as those landmarks of Western history, the Church’s present divisions have political roots reflected in a profound rift between conservatives and liberals.
The two camps have respectively shown a particular devotion either for the two previous popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, or for the present one, Francis. One reputed arch-conservative, Cardinal Raymond Burke, has warned that Francis will split the Church community with his ideas and policies.
Meanwhile, Francis has rebuked the “terrible forces of resistance” he says are impeding a remolding of the Church to serve the poor. That, for many, is the Church’s true Christian vocation, in line with the ideals of another reforming pontiff of the 20th century, John XXIII.
Eye on Opus Dei influence
The synod that began on Oct. 4 aims to revise processes, structures and institutions to recreate a Church of missionaries. It will reconsider doctrinal issues and power systems, even if conservatives insist there is no need for an overhaul and the pope is imposing his ‘socialist’ views.
The process began earlier when Francis entrusted the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, known in the past as the Inquisition, to Argentine bishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, who has a background in social work and academia and is a longstanding acquaintance of Francis from his days as archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Francis has also broken the mould in moral terms.
He has also curbed the influence of Opus Dei, the doctrinaire movement that contrasts with the Jesuits, the historic religious order in which Francis entered the clergy. Opus Dei, which enjoyed immense influence among Catholics in the 20th century, is to be downgraded to the humble status of a clerical public association, losing autonomy and having to report its activities.
Institutions aside, Francis has also broken the mold in moral terms. He has ruffled feathers, reminding believers that gay people are also children of God, and has contemplated marriage for some priests, as well as women in priestly positions, if not as priests.
He wants to bring some nuance to the Church’s stance on abortion, and has ended the omertà on abusive priests. He showed he wouldn’t play ball when it came to protecting the ill-deserved reputation of dignitaries like Marcial Maciel, the head of the Legionaries of Christ, who may have abused dozens of boys including his own children, while protected by the late John Paul II.
Benedict XVI also failed to publicly declare war on abuses, seeking legal action to prevent the revelations, even if he did apologize in public in the end. Francis, in contrast, said he felt pain, shame and consternation over the case of a Bolivian priest who abused boys under the Church’s auspices. People know it, and the message is out: Francis won’t stand for this.
A reformist pontiff
Still, it took him time to get to this point. Benedict XVI had to falter and resign for Francis to begin his battle to change the Church. He began his papacy by canonizing John XXIII and John Paul II, two popes with radically opposing views on morality and politics. It was a way of seeking a middle ground between the urgency of reforms, and the need to live with rock-solid traditionalism.
The Church’s uneven quest for the proper doctrine and its true identity resurfaces at every assembly: from John XXIII’s resolve to recover the Gospel in 1960 and the Medellín bishops’ conference of 1968, which reaffirmed the vocation around the poor, to the counter-reformist conference of 2009, held in Puebla under the patronage of John Paul II, and now the present synod.
Year after year, a push for change wrestles with the powers of conservatism, reaction and even money, while avoiding a dreaded split in this ancient religion that still counts 1.4 billion faithful. Francis is aware of the stakes, having declared in the past that he prays there will be no schism, but doesn’t fear it.
