Francis and the Schism of Germany. History of a Nightmare

That on the Amazon is the second synod in a row in which Francis has disappointed the expectations of those awaiting the innovations that he himself, the pope, had foretold.

In the 2018 synod on young people, the issue on which the expectations and controversies had focused was homosexuality. The base document of the discussion, in its paragraph 197, explicitly admitted a possible paradigm shift in judging “homosexual couples.”

And instead nothing. When the synod gathered, Francis imposed and obtained silence on the subject. No mention was made of it in the assembly discussions, nor in the final document, much less in the post-synodal pontifical exhortation “Christus vivit.” And so that on young people - emptied of its only spicy ingredient - became the most useless and boring synod in history.

The following year, with the synod on the Amazon and especially with what followed, the disappointment of the innovators was even stronger.

Because this time at the synod the discussion did take place on the most awaited and disputed change, which was the ordination of married men. In the final document the proposal passed with more than two thirds of the votes. And still in early January many were sure that Francis would adopt and authorize it, in the post-synodal exhortation expected at any moment.

But then came, in strenuous defense of the celibate priesthood, the bombshell book by pope emeritus Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah, received by the innovators as a disastrous omen.

And in fact shortly afterward the post-synodal exhortation “Querida Amazonia” fell like a sudden chill, with the total silence of Francis on the subject. To keep a feeble little light aflame, the innovators can only cling to the few introductory lines in which the pope invites “to read in full” the final document of the synod as well, from which “may God grant that the entire Church be enriched and challenged,” and recommends that “the pastors” of the Amazon “strive to apply it.”

But apart from this last crumbly foothold left by Francis at the disposal of the innovators, what has driven the pope to repeatedly apply the brakes in matters on which he had previously shown himself willing to innovate?

The answer is to be found in Germany.  (more...)

Francis and the Schism of Germany. History of a Nightmare

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