“There is no place for ideology, but there is room for dialogue, for an exchange between brothers and sisters.”
This was what Pope Francis emphasized as he expected the upcoming Synod on Synodality next month as a pure “religious moment”.
In a report by the Catholic News Agency on September 5, the Holy Father was peppered with multiple questions by journalists during an in-flight press conference aboard the papal plane back to Rome from his successful apostolic visit in Mongolia.
The Pope pointed out that the synod should “not be like a television show”, rather, a “dialogue between the baptized, who in the name of the Church, [discuss] the life of the Church, [and] dialogue with the world on the problems that affect humanity today.”
“Without this spirit of prayer, there is no synodality… There is one thing that we have to keep — ‘the synodal atmosphere,’” he stressed.
The Pope, according to CNA, said that at the root of these types of ideas about synodality, one always finds “ideologies,” adding that it is ideologies that are responsible for dividing the faithful.
He also explained that while the discussions within the synod will be inaccessible to journalists, it will be “very open” as the Commission on Information headed by Vatican Dicastery for Communications prefect and layman Paolo Ruffini “will make press releases on how the proceedings of the synod are going” and “provide information on the progress of the synod.”
“In the synod, the religiosity and the loyalty of the people who speak must be guarded, and this is why there is the commission led by Ruffini,” hesaid.
The Holy Father advised journalists that all news related to the synod to be transmitted by the Commission should not be read as “political chatter” as he underlined that the protagonist of the synod is the Holy Spirit.
The first assembly of the Synod on Synodality will take place from October 4 to 29 in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, while the next session will be held in October 2024. (Lem Leal Santiago/RCAM-AOC | Photo from Vatican News)
