Hollerich calls for calm as latest synod reports arrive
Bishops’ conferences were required to submit the results of the 2024 consultation period by 15 May, and some published their findings.
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator-general of the Synod on Synodality, tried to dampen hopes for major reforms at October’s second session, as local Churches made their submissions from the latest stage of consultation.
Speaking to the Swiss website kath.ch, he warned that the universal Church would split if some regional groupings pushed an agenda before other areas were culturally ready to accept it.
Bishops’ conferences were required to submit the results of the 2024 consultation period by 15 May, and some published their findings. Several local Churches in Western Europe reported support for women deacons, the ordination of viri probati (older, normally married men), decentralisation from Rome and other reforms.
Although Cardinal Hollerich did not name them, the African bishops’ firm rejection of blessings for same-sex couples as outlined in the Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans in December was clearly on his mind.
“A storm would break out on other continents if [the Church] were to introduce women’s priesthood tomorrow. The Vatican would have to back down,” he said.
“I want women to feel fully equal in the Church. And we will work towards that. I don't know whether that necessarily has to include ordination to the priesthood … That would be clericalisation. We have to work against that.”
Women’s ordination to the priesthood did not feature in the proposals reported in Western Europe, but several other reforms did.
The French report focused on the “differentiated co-responsibility” of clergy and laypeople in the Church, both in decision-making at parish or diocesan level and in hearing and spreading the word of God.
It did not make concrete proposals but did quote those of lower-level reports, such one from young “synod ambassadors” who called for more equality for women in many Church positions without demanding female priests.
The report from Belgium suggested that the ordination of women as deacons or of viri probati to the priesthood “should not be universally obligatory or prohibited”. It also called for lay pastoral workers to administer sacraments such as the Anointing of the Sick.
Switzerland, where four official languages live in harmony, accepted more diversity as well as the importance of unity.
“We would like to be more synodal,” their report said. “When in doubt, pastoral diversity should be considered more important for the mission of the Church than the uniformity of doctrine and discipline.”
In Austria, synodal meetings heard few calls for women priests but had majorities for female deacons. “Those who labour in the Lord's vineyard also need the tools for sacramental work,” the report said. It also supported cleric-lay equality in decision-making and regional options for rules governing the priesthood.
The document criticised Rome’s focus on the family as the “backbone of the Church”, saying that “in German-speaking countries it is no longer exclusively families” but communities and congregations that spread the faith.
Dutch bishops submitted four reports to the synod, one each for dioceses, religious orders, church communities and civil societies – the last of these making significantly more precise recommendations than the first.
The Australian bishops’ conference’s submission said that many groups saw the “possibility of women being admitted to the diaconate was seen as a sign of hope”. However, most of its report – and the “testimonies” from each diocese – focused on structural reform and the Australian Church’s experience of synodality in recent years.
It also recorded “consultation fatigue” in these latter stages of the Synod.
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