Gathered
for two weeks of work, the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family closes
its work yesterday 18th October 2014. Please find here the
concluding message of Pope Francis to the assembled Fathers.
Dear
Eminences, Beatitudes, Excellencies, Brothers and Sisters,
With a
heart full of appreciation and gratitude I want to thank, along with you, the
Lord who has accompanied and guided us in the past days, with the light of the
Holy Spirit.
From the
heart I thank Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod,
Bishop Fabio Fabene, under-secretary, and with them I thank the Relators,
Cardinal Peter Erdo, who has worked so much in these days of family mourning,
and the Special Secretary Bishop Bruno Forte, the three President delegates,
the transcribers, the consultors, the translators and the unknown workers, all
those who have worked with true fidelity and total dedication behind the scenes
and without rest. Thank you so much from the heart.
I thank all
of you as well, dear Synod fathers, Fraternal Delegates, Auditors, and
Assessors, for your active and fruitful participation. I will keep you in
prayer asking the Lord to reward you with the abundance of His gifts of grace!
I can happily
say that – with a spirit of collegiality and of synodality – we have truly
lived the experience of “Synod,” a path of solidarity, a “journey together.”
And it has
been “a journey” – and like every journey there were moments of running fast,
as if wanting to conquer time and reach the goal as soon as possible; other
moments of fatigue, as if wanting to say “enough”; other moments of enthusiasm
and ardour. There were moments of profound consolation listening to the
testimony of true pastors, who wisely carry in their hearts the joys and the
tears of their faithful people. Moments of consolation and grace and comfort
hearing the testimonies of the families who have participated in the Synod and
have shared with us the beauty and the joy of their married life. A journey
where the stronger feel compelled to help the less strong, where the more
experienced are led to serve others, even through confrontations. And since it
is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of
desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be
mentioned:
- One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility,
that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not
allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit);
within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still
need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of
the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today
– “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.
- The temptation to a destructive tendency to
goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds
without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not
the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the
fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”
- The temptation to transform stones into
bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to
transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and
the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).
- The temptation to come down off the Cross,
to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the
Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it
to the Spirit of God.
- The temptation to neglect the “depositum
fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as
owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect
reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say
so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think,
these things…
Dear
brothers and sisters, the temptations must not frighten or disconcert us, or
even discourage us, because no disciple is greater than his master; so if Jesus
Himself was tempted – and even called Beelzebul (cf. Mt 12:24) – His disciples
should not expect better treatment.
Personally
I would be very worried and saddened if it were not for these temptations and
these animated discussions; this movement of the spirits, as St Ignatius called
it (Spiritual Exercises, 6), if all were in a state of agreement, or silent in
a false and quietist peace. Instead, I have seen and I have heard – with joy
and appreciation – speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and
doctrinal zeal, of wisdom, of frankness and of courage: and of parresia. And I
have felt that what was set before our eyes was the good of the Church, of
families, and the “supreme law,” the “good of souls” (cf. Can. 1752). And this
always – we have said it here, in the Hall – without ever putting into question
the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of marriage: the indissolubility, the
unity, the faithfulness, the fruitfulness, that openness to life (cf. Cann.
1055, 1056; and Gaudium et spes, 48).
And this is
the Church, the vineyard of the Lord, the fertile Mother and the caring Teacher,
who is not afraid to roll up her sleeves to pour oil and wine on people’s
wound; who doesn’t see humanity as a house of glass to judge or categorize
people. This is the Church, One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and composed of
sinners, needful of God’s mercy. This is the Church, the true bride of Christ,
who seeks to be faithful to her spouse and to her doctrine. It is the Church
that is not afraid to eat and drink with prostitutes and publicans. The Church
that has the doors wide open to receive the needy, the penitent, and not only
the just or those who believe they are perfect! The Church that is not ashamed
of the fallen brother and pretends not to see him, but on the contrary feels
involved and almost obliged to lift him up and to encourage him to take up the
journey again and accompany him toward a definitive encounter with her Spouse,
in the heavenly Jerusalem.
The is the
Church, our Mother! And when the Church, in the variety of her charisms,
expresses herself in communion, she cannot err: it is the beauty and the
strength of the sensus fidei, of that supernatural sense of the faith which is
bestowed by the Holy Spirit so that, together, we can all enter into the heart
of the Gospel and learn to follow Jesus in our life. And this should never be seen
as a source of confusion and discord.
Many
commentators, or people who talk, have imagined that they see a disputatious
Church where one part is against the other, doubting even the Holy Spirit, the
true promoter and guarantor of the unity and harmony of the Church – the Holy
Spirit who throughout history has always guided the barque, through her
Ministers, even when the sea was rough and choppy, and the ministers unfaithful
and sinners.
And, as I
have dared to tell you , [as] I told you from the beginning of the Synod, it
was necessary to live through all this with tranquillity, and with interior
peace, so that the Synod would take place cum Petro and sub Petro (with Peter
and under Peter), and the presence of the Pope is the guarantee of it all.
We will
speak a little bit about the Pope, now, in relation to the Bishops.
So, the duty of the Pope is that of guaranteeing the unity of the Church; it is
that of reminding the faithful of their
duty to faithfully follow the Gospel of Christ; it is that of reminding the
pastors that their first duty is to nourish the flock – to nourish the flock –
that the Lord has entrusted to them, and to seek to welcome – with fatherly
care and mercy, and without false fears – the lost sheep. I made a mistake
here. I said welcome: [rather] to go out and find them.
His duty is
to remind everyone that authority in the Church is a service, as Pope Benedict
XVI clearly explained, with words I cite verbatim: “The Church is called and
commits herself to exercise this kind of authority which is service and exercises
it not in her own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ… through the Pastors of
the Church, in fact: it is he who guides, protects and corrects them, because
he loves them deeply. But the Lord Jesus, the supreme Shepherd of our souls,
has willed that the Apostolic College, today the Bishops, in communion with the
Successor of Peter… to participate in his mission of taking care of God's
People, of educating them in the faith and of guiding, inspiring and sustaining
the Christian community, or, as the Council puts it, ‘to see to it... that each
member of the faithful shall be led in the Holy Spirit to the full development
of his own vocation in accordance with Gospel preaching, and to sincere and
active charity’ and to exercise that liberty with which Christ has set us free
(cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 6)… and it is through us,” Pope Benedict continues,
“that the Lord reaches souls, instructs, guards and guides them. St Augustine,
in his Commentary on the Gospel of St John, says: ‘let it therefore be a commitment
of love to feed the flock of the Lord’ (cf. 123, 5); this is the supreme rule
of conduct for the ministers of God, an unconditional love, like that of the
Good Shepherd, full of joy, given to all, attentive to those close to us and
solicitous for those who are distant (cf. St Augustine, Discourse 340, 1;
Discourse 46, 15), gentle towards the weakest, the little ones, the simple, the
sinners, to manifest the infinite mercy of God with the reassuring words of hope
(cf. ibid., Epistle, 95, 1).”
So, the
Church is Christ’s – she is His bride – and all the bishops, in communion with
the Successor of Peter, have the task and the duty of guarding her and serving
her, not as masters but as servants. The Pope, in this context, is not the
supreme lord but rather the supreme servant – the “servant of the servants of
God”; the guarantor of the obedience and the conformity of the Church to the
will of God, to the Gospel of Christ, and to the Tradition of the Church,
putting aside every personal whim, despite being – by the will of Christ
Himself – the “supreme Pastor and Teacher of all the faithful” (Can. 749) and
despite enjoying “supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the
Church” (cf. Cann. 331-334)
Dear
brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual
discernment, the proposed ideas and to find concrete solutions to so many
difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give
answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.
One year to
work on the “Synodal Relatio” which is the faithful and clear summary of
everything that has been said and discussed in this hall and in the small
groups. It is presented to the Episcopal Conferences as “lineamenta”
[guidelines].
May the
Lord accompany us, and guide us in this journey for the glory of His Name, with
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of Saint Joseph. And please, do
not forget to pray for me! Thank you!
Vatican Radio's provisional translation
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