Thursday morning I had the opportunity to participate at an event with Marco Politi in the Facolta Valdese (in which we had held a Shadow Synod in 2001). His analysis: All the resistance against Pope Francis and Vigano’s demand that Francis should resign is meant to influence the election at the next conclave. Many high church officials don’t agree with the anticlerical and social policy course of Francis. T the errors of Francis in Chile and with Cardinal McCarrick suit them very well. This in short is Politi’s very clear and fact-based analysis. And now unfortunately, the support for reform (75,000 signatures for www.pro-pope-francis.com) is weaker than it was at the We are Church Referendum in 1995, Politi said. In the press room (Sala Stampa) of the Vatican, I happened to meet Luigi Sandri from Rome, whom we all known since the international events of We Are Church in Rome in 1996.
At 1.30 pm I attended the Vatican’s press conference, in which, of course, yesterday's opening day of the synod was described very positively. The participants have to get adjusted to the "Synod" method: Protected discussion in the Synod's Hall - open communication to the outside world. On page www.vaticannews.va/en.html you can watch the daily press briefings and you will more information about the Synod. The young German “auditor” Thomas Andonie is cited "The store needs to be cleaned up". And in the official press release of the German bishops’ Conference, there is a beautiful photo, as Thomas Andonie supports or pushes Cardinal Marx and Bishop Wuebbe: https://www.dbk.de/presse/aktuelles/meldung/bischofssynode-in-rom-hat-arbeit-aufgenommen/detail/
The quite open oral statement of Bishop Johannes Wuebbe in the Synod Hall: https://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/diverse_downloads/presse_2018/2018-161a-Wortbeitrag-Synode-Weihbischof-Johannes-Wuebbe.pdf „... konkret in beratenden und entscheidungstragenden Gremien auf Ebene der Pfarrei, des Bistums und der Bischofskonferenz partizipieren ...“
„Wie können wir zudem allen marginalisierten jungen Menschen eine Stimme in unserer Kirche geben, nicht zuletzt auch denen, die Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch und sexualisierter Gewalt in unserer Kirche wurden? Das geht nur, wenn wir unsere kirchlichen Strukturen, unsere Arbeits- und Verfahrensweisen, ja unsere Sprache insgesamt ganz von diesen Schwachen her neu denken.
At 3 pm I visited the event by Womens’ Ordination Worldwide "Discerning Women: Voices Outside the Synod" in a nearby church hall. Four impressive statements: Paola Lazzarini (on the "Donne Per La Chiesa" statement even published in the Osservatore Romano), Zuzanna Radzik (on the progressiing secularization in Poland), Jacqueline Straub (on her own vocation to the priesthood), Jamie Manson, USA (reflecting on the different echo of the Church to the women's demand for ordination and to sexual violence). For Friday morning I have been admitted to the morning prayer in the Synod Hall. At 9:30 am I will to go to Mass with Cardinal Marx in the chapel of the Gregoriana. At 1 pm there is the daily press briefing in the Sala Stampa. And afterwards it will have to rush to the airport. I hope I will be able to come back to Rome for the end of the Synod.
Saluti di Roma
C h r i s t i a n W e i s n e r
WE ARE CHURCH INTERNATIONAL
Excellent report of 4 October events also on FutureChurch Blog
Wednesday, October 3, 2018, the Synod of Bishops was opened. At 10 o'clock Pope Francis presided the opening service on St Peter’s Square. The bright weather let forget for a moment the dark shadow that is above the upcoming Synod and it was not directly addressed (if I understood correctly). But the "Synod of Bishops can’t and should not ignore sexual violence in the church". With this headline I sent a press release in German on behalf von We are Church Germany from Rome (
One day before the beginning of the Synod of Bishops "Youth, Faith and Vocation", the fairly new international initiative "Ending Clerical Abuse" (ECA) called for action against sexual and spiritual violence in the priest seminaries: 