As the Synod begins, a short note from the cardinal

Via rkkerk.nl, a short note from Cardinal Eijk, who is the sole Dutch participant in the assembly of the Synod of Bishops which was opened yesterday with a Holy Mass.

“The opening celebration, in which we prayed for the support of the Holy Spirit, was impressive, and we are ready to begin this intense period of listening to and deliberating and discussing with each other. I hope that faithful across the world and in especially in the Netherlands pray with us for God’s blessing over this Synod.”

 Cardinal Baldisseri addresses the Synod, flanked by the Pope and, at his right, Archbishop Bruno Forte, the special secretary, and Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, president delegate. Seated in the third row from the bottom, second from the right, seems to be Cardinal Eijk, flanked by Cardinals Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal and Christopher Collins.

Today was the first full day of deliberations, although for the majority of Synod father, much of it was taken up by listening. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod, once again explained the processes of the coming three weeks. Cardinal Péter Erdö, relator general, held a long exposition outlining the context and topics of the Synod. John Allen has a good analysis of the cardinal’s talk. His clear words about the impossibility of allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion, ruffled a number of feathers outside the Synod hall, but it should be clear by now that the Synod is not about to change doctrine. Rather, its focus is pastoral care and how it may best be developed and practiced. As Cardinal Vingt-Trois put it at this afternoon’s press conference, “If you think you will find a radical change in Church doctrine, you’ll be disappointed”. The archbishop of Paris, who serves the Synod as one of four President Delegates, stated that the Synod has two goals: to propose the Gospel of the family and the pastoral accompaniment of families in their realities.

Photo credit: L’Osservatore Romano

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Synod Day 1 – First impressions

^Orthodox metropolitan of Belgium, Athenagoras, who is a guest at the Synod, snapped this photo of Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Mechelen-Brussels. Also visible, at the far right, is Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm.

^Cardinal Eijk (second from the right) is seen in this still from the CTV live stream, seated between Cardinals John Tong Hon of Hong Kong and George Alencherry of Ernakulam-Angamaly. On the other side of Cardinal Alencherry sits Cardinal Marx.

As the Metropolitans of the Low Countries, to name but two, got down to business, the rest of the world was treated to a mixture of openness and secrecy about the Synod’s deliberations. On the one hand the first session was streamed live, but on the other the remainder will take place behind closed doors. And unlike previous Synod assemblies, the contributions of the speakers will also not be published. Instead, there will be summaries of the day’s proceedings and several participants will take part in daily press briefings.

In his opening address to the Synod, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri told the participants not to use their Twitter accounts in the Synod hall. That makes sense, but let’s hope they’ll continue using them outside the hall. Related to that, there are a few blogging bishops and cardinals at the Synod. In addition to those populating my sidebar, I have also come across the blogs of Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, of Gatineau in Canada, and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville in the US.

The official Vatican website on the Synod also has a bunch of texts and also video interviews with participants in several languages.

Today, Cardinals Maradiaga (Tegucigalpa and the Council of Cardinals), Marx (Munich and the Council of Cardinals), Napier (Durban), Sistach (Barcelona), Erdö (Budapest) and Archbishop Okada (Tokyo) took the first sit-down with the press. Their words there gave some hints at what was discussed in the second congregation, which took place this afternoon.

Cardinal Maradiaga spoke about the importance of marriage preparation which, he said, should start after Confirmation. Cardinal Sistach stressed the importance of the bishops staying as close as possible to the people and their lives, so as to formulate a realistic response. Archbishop Okada added that in Japan it was the laity who kept the faith alive and passed it on to later generations, despite persecutions. Cardinal Napier painted the image of the Church as the Good Samaritan, caring for the wounded. Cardinal Marx, then, stated that there needs to be a public debate on the Synod’s themes.

The entire mission programme, so to speak, of the Synod was outlined by the ubiquitous Cardinal Péter Erdö, in his Relatio ante disceptationem.

^And in the end, the Pope strolled home… (photo courtesy of Charles Le Bourgeois)

Learning how to bishop – Bishop Oster in Rome

Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau shares the photo below on his Facebook page. Germany’s youngest ordinary met Pope emeritus Benedict XVI and Archbishop Georg Gänswein over lunch yesterday and brings back the retired pontiff’s heartfelt greetings and promises of prayer to Passau, the diocese in which Benedict was born in 1927.

Bishop Oster is in Rome as part of the annual “training course” for new bishops who were appointed in the past year. With him from Germany are Archbishop Stephan Burger and Bishop Michael Gerber from Freiburg, Bishop Ansgar Puff from Cologne, and Bishop Herwig Gössl from Bamberg (pictured below while attending one of the seminars earlier this week).

The training week is organised by Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s  Congregation for Bishops, and is attended by some 130 bishops from across the globe. Various cardinals and other Curia members offered seminars on such topics as the Church’s social teaching (Cardinal Turkson), the spirituality of bishops (Cardinal Amato) and the workings of the Synod of Bishops (Cardinal Baldisseri), the reforms of the Curia (Cardinal Ouellet), and finances (Cardinal Pell), but they also heard the sobering stories of bishops from Iraq and Syria. The ten days of the training is, as Bishop Oster says, also a time of reflection, prayer and community and will be closed tomorrow with an audience with Pope Francis.

Enter the Synod members

Yesterday the Holy See published the list of participants in the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family. Of course, there are the usual suspects: the heads of the Roman Curia departments, the standing members of the Synod and the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, with the latter being default participants in an Extraordinary General Synod, which this one is. Pope Francis has had a personal touch in the selection of several participants; noteable among those are Cardinal Kasper, to all appearances a theologian much appreciated by the Holy Father, but also the vast majority of cardinals he created in his first consistory of last February.

A breakdown per country also shows Pope Francis’ fairly strong focus on both the southern half of the globe and the Middle East. When looking at the members personally appointed by the Pope, as well as the lay and professional participants and auditors, we see that, while 35 participants come from Europe (19 of whom are based in Rome or other parts of Italy), 15 participants come from Asia (5 of them from the Middle East), 12 from Central and South America, 9 from Africa, 4 from Oceania and 4 from North America. Add to those the bishops’ conference presidents and not least the fact that two of the three President Delegates come from outside Europe, and you get a distinct non-western picture.

From a local point of view it is interesting to see that no less than four participants come from Belgium, while there is only a single one from the Netherlands and a mere two from Germany. Belgium sends Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard,which was expected as he is the president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, but also his predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels (pictured), as well as Father George Henri Ruyssen of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Additionaly, Metropolitan Athenagoras, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgium, attends as a “fraternal delegate”.

From the Netherlands comes the archbishop of Utrecht, Cardinal Wim Eijk, as the president of our bishops’ conference, and Germany sends Cardinal Reinhard Marx, not a stranger in Rome, and Berlin’s Professor Ute Eberl.

And of course the list has been criticised, not least today by Fr. Thomas Reese. His argument that the presence of heads of the Curia is a bad thing, and an indication that Pope Francis’ intentions of overhauling and streamlining the workings of the Curia is doomed to fail, is plainly ludicrous. He argues that the prefects and presidents of the Curia are merely staff members and not policy makers, and should therefore be merely attending, not speaking or voting in the Synod, which is an extreme oversimplification. By that reasoning the presidents of the bishops’ conferences should not be there as participants either. The members of the Roman Curia are the closest collaborators of the Pope. They meet with him on a weekly basis and he is generally kept up to date on whatever is going on in the various department. But the Pope is one man, so the prefects and presidents not only have the leeway to make their own decisions, that is also their mandate. They are also not random clerics appointed on a whim, but experienced in their own field of work. They are far more than staff. Their experience, knowledge and mandate are enough to give them not only the right and duty to attend the Synod, but also to contribute and decide. Cricitism like that of Fr. Reese seems mostly motivated by a deeply ingrained fear and mistrust of the Curia, which has created an artifical opposition between individual faithful and the institutional Church.

Anyway, the Synod is still a couple of weeks away. Let’s give it the chance it deserves and not let it die a quiet death once the delegates have returned home.

Below is the full list of participants, as published yesterday:

PRESIDENT

• Pope Francis

GENERAL SECRETARY

• Lorenzo Cardinal Baldiserri

PRESIDENT DELEGATES

• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France
• Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines
• Raymunda Damasceno Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil

RELATOR GENERAL

• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Hungary, President of the Concilium Conferentiarum Episcoporum Europae (CCEE).

SPECIAL SECRETARY

• Archbishop Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Italy

PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE MESSAGE

• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE MESSAGE

• Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina

SYNOD FATHERS FROM THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES

• Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, President of the Synod of the Catholic Coptic Church
• Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, President of the Synod the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church
• Patrirach Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patrirach of Antioch of the Syrians, President of the Syriac Catholic Church
• Patriarch Béchara Boutros Cardinal Raï, Patrirach of Antioch of the Maronites, President of the Synod of the Maronite Church
• Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, President of the Synod of the Chaldean Church
• Patriarch Nersos Bedros XIX  Tarmouni, Patrirach of Cilicia of the Armenians, President of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church
• Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, President of the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church
• Major Archbishop George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, President of the Syro-Malabar Church
• Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum, President of the Synod of the Syro-Malankarese Church
• Major Archbishop Lucian Cardinal Muresan, Major Archbishop of Făgăras şi Alba Iulia, President of the Synod of the Romanian Church
• Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Abeba of the Ethiopics, President of the Council of the Ethiopian Church, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea
• Archbishop William Charles Skurla, Archbishop of Pittsburgh of the Ruthenians, President of the Council of the Ruthenian Church in the United States of America
• Archbishop Ján Babjak, Archbishop of Presov of the Slovaks, President of the Council of the Slovak Church

PRESIDENT OF THE BISHOPS’ CONFERENCES

• Bishop Benoît Comlan Messan Alowonou, Bishop of Kpalimé, Togo
• Bishop Oscar Omar Aparicio Céspedes, Military Ordinary of Bolivia
• Archbishop José María Arancedo, Archbishop of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina
• Bishop Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden
• Raymundo Damasceno Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecido, Brazil (see also above)
• Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genova, Italy
• Bishop Gervaise Banshimiyubusa, Bishop of Ngozi, Burundi
• Bishop Michael Dixon Bhasera, Bishop of Masvingo, Zimbabwe
• Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Archbishop of Valladolid, Spain
• Bishop Anthony Fallah Borwah, Bishop of Gbarnga, Liberia
• Bishop Jean-Claude Bouchard, Bishop of Pala, Chad
• Josip Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia
• Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
• Bishop Markus Büchel, Bishop of Sankt Gallen, Switzerland
• Archbishop Paul Bùi Van Doc, Archbishop of Thành-Phô Hô Chí Minh, Vietnam
• Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, Archbishop of Tunja, Colombia
• Archbishop Ignatius Chama, Archbishop of Kasama, Zambia
• Archbishop Louis Chamniern Santisukniran, Archbishop of Thare and Nonseng, Thailand
• Archbishop Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan
• Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Archbishop John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand
• Bishop Nicolas Djomo Lola, Bishop of Tshumbe, Congo-Kinshasa
• Bishop Basílio do Nascimento, Bishop of Baucau, Timor-Leste
• Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau, Canada
• Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary (see also above)
• Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador
• Ricardo Cardinal Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile
• Bishop Emmanuel Félémou, Bishop of Kankan, Guinea
• Bishop Oscar Gerardo Fernández Guillén, Bishop of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
• Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, Archbishop of Izmir, Turkey
• Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, Archbishop of Poznan, Poland
• Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
• Archbishop Zef Gashi, Archbishop of Bar, Montenegro
• Bishop Catalino Claudio Giménez Medina, Bishop of Caacupé, Paraguay
• Bishop Andrej Glavan, Bishop of Novo Mesto, Slovenia
• Archbishop Roberto Octavio González Nieves, Archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India
• Archbishop Jan Graubner, Archbishop of Olomouc, Czech Republic
• Bishop Mario Grech, Bishop of Gozo, Malta
• Archbishop John Ha Tiong Hock, Archbishop of Kuching, Malaysia
• Archbishop Denis James Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia
• Bishop Eugène Cyrille Houndékon, Bishop of Abomey, Benin
• Archbishop John Hung Shan-Chuan, Archbishop of Taipei, Taiwan
• Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos, Nigeria
• Bishop Peter Kang U-Il, Bishop of Cheju, South Korea
• Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of Douala, Cameroon
• Bishop Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Archbisop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus
• Bishop Patrick Daniel Koroma, Bishop of Kenema, Sierra Leone
• Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville, United States of America
• Archbishop Vincent Landèl, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco
• Chibly Cardinal Langlois, Bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti
• Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan, Bishop of Mouila, Gabon
• Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium
• Archbishop Gerard Tlali Lerotholi, Archbishop of Maseru, Lesotho
• Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang, Bishop of Kalay, Myanmar
• Patriarch José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal
• Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Bishop of Tonga, Tonga
• Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Vicar Apostolic of Paksé, Laos
• Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland
• Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of München und Freising, Germany
• Archbishop Angelo Massafra, Archbishop of Shkodrë-Pult, Albania
• Bishop Juan Matogo Oyana, Bishop of Bata, Equatorial Guinea
• Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, Arcbishop of Lubango, Angola
• Bishop Smaragde Mbonyintege, Bishop of Kabgayi, Rwanda
• Archbishop Thomas Meram, Archbishop of Urmya, Iran
• Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine
• Bishop Lúcio Andrice Muandula, Bishop of Xai-Xai, Mozambique
• Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda, Archbishop of Windhoek, Namibia
• Bishop Benjamin Ndiaye, Bishop of Kaolack, Senegal
• Bishop Tarcisius J.M. Ngalalekumtwa, Bishop of Iringa, Tanzania
• Vincent Gerard Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, United Kingdom
• John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya
• Bishop Rimantas Norvila, Bishop of Vilkaviskis, Lithuania
• Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic
• Archbishop John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu, Uganda
• Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada, Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan
• Bishop Arnold Orowae, Bishop of Wabag, Papua New Guinea
• Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, Ghana
• Archbishop Paul Yembuado Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
• Archbishop Diego R. Padrón Sánchez, Archbishop of Cumaná, Venezuela
• Bishop Franghískos Papamanólis, Bishop of Syros and Santorini, Greece
• Albert Malcolm Ranjith Cardinal Patabendige Don, Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Bishop Gregorio Nicanor Peña Rodríguez, Bishop of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia en Higüey, Dominican Republic
• Archbishop Tomasz Peta, Archbishop of Mary Most Holy in Astana, Kazakhstan
• Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, Archbishop of Mother of God at Moscow, Russia
• Bishop Maurice Piat, Bishop of Port-Louis, Seychelles
• Archbishop Patrick Christopher Pinder, Archbishop of Nassau, Bahamas
• Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro García-Calderón, Archbishop of Ayacucho, Peru
• Archbishop Georges Pontier, Archbishop of Marseille, France
• Bishop Louis Portella Mbuyu, Bishop of Kinkala, Congo-Brazzaville
• Bishop Christo Proykov, Apostolic Exarch of Sofia of the Bulgarians, Bulgaria
• Francisco Cardinal Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico
• Archbishop Ioan Robu, Archbishop of Bucharest, Romania
• Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
• Bishop Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón, Bishop of Juigalpa, Nicaragua
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Wien, Austria
• Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Abeba of the Ethiopics, Ethiopia (see also above)
• Archbishop Zbignev Stankevics, Archbishop of Riga, Latvia
• Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Archbishop of Jakarta, Indonesia
• Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• Bishop Jean-Baptiste Tiama, Bishop of Sikasso, Mali
• Archbishop Alexis Touabli Youlo, Archbishop of Agboville, Côte d’Ivoire
• Archbishop Fausto Gabriel Trávez Trávez, Archbishop of Quito, Ecuador
• Archbishop Désiré Tsarahazana, Archbishop of Taomasina, Madagascar
• Patriarch Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, Archbishop of Panamá, Panama
• Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela Núñez, Bishop of Vera Paz, Guatemala
• Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Philippines
• Bishop Rodolfo Pedro Wirz Kraemer, Bishop of Maldonado-Punta del Este, Uruguay
• Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako, Archbishop of Khartoum, Sudan
• Bishop Joseph Mukasa Zuza, Bishop of Mzuzu, Malawi
• Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský, Archbishop of Bratislava, Slovakia

ELECTED BY THE UNION OF SUPERIORS GENERAL

• Father Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Father Mauro Jöhri, Minister General of the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor
• Father Mario Alegani, Superior General of the Congregation of Saint Joseph

HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ROMAN CURIA

• Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State
• Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches
• Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
• Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Beniamino Cardinal Stella, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
• João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education
• Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Major Penitentiary
• Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Stanislaw Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
• Kurt Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family
• Peter Kodwo Appiah Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
• Robert Cardinal Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Antonio Maria Cardinal Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
• Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
• Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
• Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture (see also above)
• Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications
• Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation
• Domenico Cardinal Calcagno, President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
• Giuseppe Cardinal Versaldi, President of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See

MEMBERS OF THE ORDINARY COUNCIL

• Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, United States of America
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary (see also above)
• Archbishop Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Italy (see also above)
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India (see also above)
• Laurent Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo-Kinshasa
• Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban, South Africa
• George Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy
• Odilo Pedro Cardinal Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Wien, Austria (see above)
• Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Ukraine (see also above)
• Bishop Santiago Jaime Silva Retamalas, Auxiliary Bishop of Valparaíso, Chile, Secretary General of the Episcopal Council of Latin America (CELAM)
• Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines (see also above)
• Donald William Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, United States of America
• Peter Kodwo Appiah Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (see also above)
• Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation (see also above)

MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE POPE

• Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals
• Godfried Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium
• Walter Cardinal Kasper, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan, Italy
• Carlo Cardinal Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, Italy
• Lluís Cardinal Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain
• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France (see also above)
• Jonh Cardinal Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong, China
• Orani João Cardinal Tempesta, Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Adrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, South Korea
• Philippe Nakellentuba Cardinal Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• Fernando Cardinal Sebastián Aguilar, Archbishop emeritus of Pamplona y Tudela, Spain
• Elio Cardinal Sgreccia, President emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life
• Giuseppe Cardinal Bertello, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci, Archbishop of Loreto, Italy
• Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli, Archbishop Anciona-Osimo, Italy
• Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepatla, Mexico, President of the Episcopal Council of Latin America (CELAM)
• Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, Archbishop of Delhi, India
• Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (see also above)
• Bishop Alonso Gerardo Garza Treviño, Bishop of Piedras Negras, Mexico
• Bishop Edgard Amine Madi, Bishop of Nossa Senhora do Líbano em São Paulo of the Maronites, Brazil
• Bishop Enrico Solmi, Bishop of Parma, Italy, President of the Commission for Life and Family in the Italian Bishops’ Conference
• Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota
• Father Francois-Xavier Dumortier, Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University Gregoriana
• Father Antonio Spadaro, Editor of the magazine “La Civiltà Cattolica”
• Father Manuel Jesús Arroba Conde, Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University

UNDERSECRETARY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS

• Bishop Fabio Fabene

LIST OF OTHER PARTICIPANTS ACCORDING TO THEIR TITLES

• Fr. Tony Anatrella, psycho-analist. Specialist in social psychiatry. Consultor to the Pontifical Councils for the Family and for Health Care Workers. France.
• Fr. Gérard Berliet, professor of Sacred Scripture at the provincial seminary in Lyon. Head of pastoral care for divorced and remarried faithful in the Archdiocese of Lyon, France.
• Fr. Bruno Esposito, professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome.
• Fr. Alfonso Fernández Benito, professor of Moral Theology and the Sacrament of Marriage at the Hugher Institute of Theological Studies “San Ildefonso”, director of the Institute for Religious Sciences Santa Maria di Toledo, Spain.
• Fr. Arul Raj Gali, National Director of “Holy Cross Family Ministries in India”.
• Dr. Jeffrey Goh, professor of Systematic Theology at the archdiocesan seminary and judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Kuching, Malaysia.
• Fr. Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University Urbaniana in Rome, consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Dr. Rodrigo Guerra López, general director of the Centre for Advanced Social Research, Mexico.
• Dr. Jocelyne Khoueiry, member of the Episcopal Commission for the Family of the APECL, Lebanon.
• Dr. Helen Kyung Soo Kwon, member of the executive committee of the “Helen Kim Scholarship Foundation at Ewha Womans University”, South Korea.
• Fr. Sabatino Majorano, professor of Systemic Moral Theology at the Alphonsianum, Italy.
• Mr. Christopher Laurence Meney, director of the Center for life, marriage and family of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia.
• Professor Giuseppina de Simone, extraordinary professor of philosophy at the Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples. Married to ∨
• Professor Francesco Miano, professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, president of Catholic Action, Italy. Married to ^
• Professor Carmen Peña García, director of Especialista en Causas Matrimoniales, professor at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Comillas Pontifical University, Defender of the Bond and Promotor of Justice at the Metropolitan Court of Madrid, Spain.
• Fr. George Henri Ruyssen, professor at the Faculty of Oriental Canon Law of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Belgium.

AUDITORS

•  Mr. Arturo and Mrs. Hermelinda As Zamberline, officials of the ‘Equipe Notre Dame” in Brazil.
• Mr. Riyadh Albeer Naoom Azzo and Mrs. Sanaa Namir Ibrahim Habeeb, witnessing of Christian family life in a Muslim environment, Iraq.
• Mr. León Botolo and Mrs. Marie Valentine Kisanga Sosawe, founders of Communauté Famille Chrétienne, Congo-Kinshasa.
• Professor Zelmira María Bottini de Rey, director of the Institute for Couples and Family of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, president of the Latin-America Network of the Institute of the Family of the Catholic Universities, Argentina.
• Mr. George Campos, director of Couples for Christ, Philippines. Married to ∨
• Mrs. Cynthia Campos, member of Couples for Christ, Philippines. Married to ^
• Mr. Inácio Amândio Chaúque, educator of young couples, Mozambique.
• Mrs. Joan Clements, director of the executive committe of the World Organisation Ovulation Method Billings (WOOMB), Australia.
• Mr. Stephen and Mrs. Sandra Conway, regional officers for Africa of Retrouvailles, South Africa.
• Dr. Ute Eberl, responsible for pastoral care for marriage and family in the Archdiocese of Berlin, Germany.
• Mrs. Pilar Escudero de Jensen, member of the vicariate general of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile, member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, member of the Family Institute of Schönstatt, Chile. Married to ∨
• Mr. Luis Jensen Acuña, member of the Bioethics Centre of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, member of the Family Institute of Schönstatt, Chile. Married to ^
• Dr. Jean Dieudonné Gatsinga and Mrs. Emerthe Gatsinga Tumuhayimpundu, repsonsible for young families of the Focolare movement in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda.
• Mr. Jeffrey Heinzen, director of Natural Family Planing of the Diocese of La Crosse, United States of America. Married to ∨
• Mrs. Alice Heinzen, member of the Natural Family Planning Advisory Board of the Diocese of La Crosse, United States of America. Married to ^
• Dr. Ilva Myriam Hoyos Castañeda, prosecutor delegate for the defense of the rights of children, youth and family, Colombia.
• Mr. Sélim and Mrs. Rita Khoury, leading the Office for Pastoral Care for Families of the Patriarchal Curia of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon.
• Mrs. María Lacalle Noriega, director of the Centre of the Study of the family (Inst. Investigaciones económicas y sociales Francisco de Vitoria), secretary general of the Sociedad Española de bioética y biojurídica, Spain.
• Fr. Cajetan Menezes, director of the Family Apostolate in Bombay, India.
• Mr. Giuseppe Petracca Ciavarella and Mrs. Lucia Miglionico, medical doctors, members of the National Council for Pastoral Care of Families, Italy.
• Sister Margaret Muldoon, Superior General of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, Ireland.
• Mr. Francisco Padilla, officer of the Couples for Christ Foundation for family and life movement, Philippines.
• Mr. Algirdas Petronis, vice president of the International Federation of Catholic Families, director of the Centre for the Family of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, Lithuania.
• Mr. Romano and Mrs. Mavis Pirola, directors of the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council.
• Mr Olivier and Mrs. Xristilla Roussy, responsible for the apostolic branch of Amour et Vérité, France.
• Mr. Steve and Mrs. Claudia Schultz, members of the International Catholic Engaged Encounter, United States of America.
• Mrs. Michèle Taupin, preident of the movement Espérance et Vie, France.
• Mrs. Jeannette Touré, National president of the Association of Catholic Women in Côte d’Ivoire.

FRATERNAL DELEGATES

•  Archbishop Athenagoras, Metropolitan of Belgium. Ecumenic patriarchate.
• Archbishop Hilarion, President of Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
• Metropolitan Bishoy, Metropolitan of Damietta, Kafr Elsheikh and Elbarari, Egypt. Coptic Orthodox Church.
• Mar Yostinos, Archbishop of Zhale and Bekau, Lebanon. Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
• Bishop Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, England. Anglican Communion.
• Dr. Ndanganeni Petrus Phaswaha, Bishop-President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa. World Lutheran Federation.
• Dr. Benebo Fubara-Manuel, President of the Nigeria Communion of Reformed Churches. World Communion of Reformed Churches.
• Dr. Valérie Duval-Poujol, professor of Biblical Exegesis at the Catholic Institute of Paris, France. World Baptist Alliance.

Cardinal Baldisseri clears some things up

According to EWTN, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri has confirmed what I have been saying since an interview two weeks ago caused some fear and confusion about the goals and focus of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family.

In the earlier interview the cardinal seemed to be hinting at possible changes in the Church doctrine on marriage. While I did not share that conclusion, many others did. I already wrote that Cardinal Baldisseri’s comments did, in my opinion, not so much deal with doctrine but with pastoral practice, which, I still think, will also be the focus of the Synod. In the EWTN interview, the cardinal emphasised the following:

“Regarding the possibility for the synod of bishops of changing the doctrine of the Church, I underscore that the First Vatican Council’s document Dei Filius affirmed that “understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding.”

And I also remind you that John XXIII said in the inaugural speech of the Second Vatican Council that “authentic doctrine … should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another.””

Whether these comments come in response to the fears mentioned above, are a form of “backtracking”, or are simply a timely reminder about the nature of doctrine in the Church, they should go some way in clearing up misconceptions about the upcoming Synod. The Church will not be changing the truth. That is the same in the past, now and the future. What she can – and should – look at it how that truth can be communicated, shared, explained and lived most effectively. So no, divorce will not suddenly become an option for validly married couples, and the very nature of marriage will also not change. The sacraments will not be devalued, and we should still be properly disposed to encounter the Lord in them. Objective obstacles will remain so. The Synod will not change the ‘what’, but will look at the ‘how’.

Baldisseri’s focus – not dogmatic, but pastoral

In an exclusive interview for Belgian weekly Tertio, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, says it’s time for the Church to change her attitude to marriage and divorce. Or so several media say. Tertio’s website offers two short excerpts from the interview, with the first expressly dealing with the question of remarried divorcees. While it is clear that the answer presented is not the full answer given by Cardinal Baldisseri, it also does not support in any way that he desires a change in Church teaching. Of course, once the full interview is out, this conclusion may prove incorrect, but, as ever, things are likely not as explosive as some would want them to be.

In the West many expect more openness on sexual morality, including the attitude towards remarried divorcees. Do you expect there to be any changes?

“The questionnaire covered many topics. Among them the topic of sexual morality, but also the situation of divorcees and people who have remarried civilly. […] Pope John Paul II’s Familiaris consortio from 1981 was the last major document in the past thirty years about this topic. The Church is not timeless; she exists amid the vicissitudes of history and the Gospel must be known and experienced by the people of today. The message must be delivered in the present, with all respect for the integrity of whoever receives it. We now face two Synods to discuss this complex topic of the family, and I believe that this dynamic in two movements will allow us to give a more appropriate response to the expectations of the people.”

How can a greater balance be reached in the management of the Church, between the Curia and the world Church, between centralisation and local autonomy?

“That is the great question that Pope Francis knows himself to be confronted with, in the face of renewal and reform. According to him the bishops at the Conclave gave him that task. Synodality would have to guarantee decentralisation and more attention for the local churches, and also greater involvement of all bishops in the world with evangelisation. As head of the college of bishops the Pope must lead that process. The Council of eight cardinals is working towards a reform of the Curia and the central services of the Church.”

As an aside, the above answers are generally what Cardinal Baldisseri said in an interview for Vatican Radio in March. There he also said that what the Synod wants to do is get to know the problems, so solutions may be found. Pastoral care can and must be flexible, if always rooted in the faith of the Church. But pastoral care can only work if those who want to exercise it get to know the people and their situations. Getting to know and understand the questions and problems of people who are divorced and remarried is not the same as condoning their situation, but a first step towards a solution. I expect that is exactly what Cardinal Baldisseri and the Synod of Bishops is trying to do before the Synod starts in autumn.