Fr George, The Blah Blah Synod™ in Germany is insane. Why don’t you comment on it?

Short answer: I have. Like a zillion times. The Blah Blah Synod™ is just blah-blah.

But – sigh – here we go again:

Dichiarazione della Santa Sede

• Per tutelare la libertà del popolo di Dio e l’esercizio del ministero episcopale, pare necessario precisare che il “Cammino sinodale” in Germania non ha facoltà di obbligare i Vescovi ed i fedeli ad assumere nuovi modi di governo e nuove impostazioni di dottrina e di morale. Non sarebbe lecito avviare nelle diocesi, prima di un’intesa concordata a livello di Chiesa universale, nuove strutture ufficiali o dottrine, che rappresenterebbero una ferita alla comunione ecclesiale e una minaccia all’unità della Chiesa. Come ricordava il Santo Padre nella lettera al popolo di Dio che è in cammino in Germania: «La Chiesa universale vive in e delle Chiese particolari, così come le Chiese particolari vivono e fioriscono in e dalla Chiesa universale, e se si ritrovano separate dall’intero corpo ecclesiale, si debilitano, marciscono e muoiono. Da qui il bisogno di mantenere sempre viva ed effettiva la comunione con tutto il corpo della Chiesa»[1]. Pertanto si auspica che le proposte del Cammino delle Chiese particolari in Germania confluiscano nel percorso sinodale che sta percorrendo la Chiesa universale, per un reciproco arricchimento e una testimonianza di quella unità con la quale il corpo della Chiesa manifesta la sua fedeltà a Cristo Signore. // [1] FRANCESCO, Lettera al popolo di Dio che è in cammino in Germania, 9.

That’s from the Dicastery for Communication which didn’t supply an English translation, because why would they? They issued it with nobody’s signature from no particular dicastery, nor the Secretariat of State. So, it carries the weight of the Dicastery for Sewer Works. It’s just verbal diarrhea.

Here’s my quicky translation:

• In order to protect the freedom of the people of God and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, it seems necessary to specify that the “Synodal Path” in Germany has no power to oblige the Bishops and the faithful to adopt new ways of governing and new paradigms of doctrine and morality. It would not be lawful to initiate new official structures or doctrines in dioceses before an understanding is established at the level of the universal Church, which would represent a wound to ecclesial communion and a threat to the unity of the Church. As the Holy Father recalled in the letter to the people of God who are on their way in Germany: “The universal Church lives in and by way of particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and by way of the universal Church, and if they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die, hence the need to maintain always alive and effective communion with the entire body of the Church.” Therefore it is hoped that the proposals of the Way of the particular Churches in Germany will converge on the synodal path that the universal Church is taking, for reciprocal enrichment and a testimony to that unity with which the body of the Church manifests its faithfulness to Christ the Lord.

My comment: This is no reprimand of the German Path’s deviations from proper church governance and from doctrine and and from morality. Not at all. This is simply an encouragement to do those things in conjunction with centralized power in the person of the Pope if that’s what the Pope would like some time in future. That’s it. Clever. Evil.

• “But Father George! Father George! How can you get that from that?! The Holy See would never support women’s ordination, same-sex marriage and all the other weakness, rotting and dying of the Church evident on the website of the Synod on Synodality at the Holy See… Ooops!”

I’m sick of blah-blah. Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of our dear Heavenly Father is now Incarnate, and has laid down His life for us, Innocent for the guilty. I do not follow the blah-blah. I follow Jesus.