The Pope opens the work of the Synod: Listen! And fasting from the media

Catarina Agorilios – Vatican City

Pope Francis opened the First General Synod of the Synod on Wednesday, October 4, which was held in the Vatican’s reception hall dedicated to Saint Paul VI. He himself sat at one of the many round tables displayed in the hall, which included 464 participants.

Listen quickly from the media, give plenty of space to the Holy Spirit, prayer and meditation – especially on the texts of Saint Basil the Great – and give no place to gossip, worldliness and ideologies, were the Pope’s advice. The Pope also appealed to all journalists to help convey the message that the priority is to listen before speaking.

The Holy Spirit is the main character

The Pope came before the appointed time to the reception hall and prayed and sang with the cardinals, bishops, monks, consecrated and laity participants in the council. In his short speech, he stressed that the main character is the Holy Spirit.

The hero of the council is not us, but the Holy Spirit, and if we do not make room for him, the council will not go well.

No to gossip – common strife

The Pope asked the participants in the council not to carry the Holy Spirit with empty and worldly words, and warned against gossip, which he stressed is a very common disease among them and often occurs within the church.

Gossip is the opposite of the Holy Spirit… and if we do not let Him heal us from this disease, it will be difficult for us to succeed in the synodal journey. At least here… If you disagree with what that bishop, nun, or layman says, say so directly. So it’s a complex. Tell the truth and don’t gossip behind your back.

Listening, priority

The Pope stressed that during the Synod they must make room for listening. He said, “Listening is the priority, and we must send a message to the press and journalists” through “communication that reflects this life of the Holy Spirit.”

It takes asceticism – let me speak to journalists this way – but there is a certain fasting in the media to take care of this. Let what is published be in this spirit. Someone will say – and they are already saying it – that the bishops are afraid and that is why they do not want journalists to say anything. No: The work of journalists is very important, but we must help them unite in spirit.

Message to journalists

It reminds us that controversy and pressure from the media played into deliberations and often dominated the agenda. “And when the family council was held, a general opinion was issued regarding our hospitality, which is the communion of divorced people, and thus the council began. At the Amazon Synod there was a general opinion and pressure for Try to peek (Ordination of married men) And so the pressure began. … They often say that the bishops are afraid to talk about what is happening.” So the Pope went directly to the “communicants” and asked them to carry out “their ministry well and in a correct way, so that the Church and those of good will understand – and others will say what they want – that even in the Church there The Pope stressed that “the priority is listening. Conveying this matter, as it is very important.”

Reflections on the texts of Saint Basil the Great

The Pope then highlights some patristic texts as tools for reflection among all participants: “It comes from Saint Basil the Great who wrote this beautiful writing about the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it is not easy to understand this reality…. “I ask you to think and reflect on this.”

A long-awaited synod

“It is not easy but very beautiful” to implement this Synod on Synodality, which is the fruit of a 60-year journey and which “all the bishops of the world wanted”.

In the poll conducted among the bishops of the world after the Amazon Synod… the desire was conciliarity. …All the bishops of the world saw the need to think about conciliarism, because everyone understood that the time had come for it.

It is not a “parliamentary” meeting.

“It is in this spirit that we begin the work today,” the Pope said, recalling once again what he had just emphasized at the opening Mass that morning in St. Peter’s Square, that the Synod is not merely a parliament or a meeting of friends for the sake of it. Settle some things right now or provide feedback.

If we have other ways forward for human, personal and ideological interests, it will not be a synod, but more a parliamentary meeting, which is another matter. The complex is the path of the Holy Spirit.