VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The first rule of the Synod on Synodality: Don’t talk about the Synod on Synodality.The long-awaited monthlong summit of Catholic cardinals, bishops, priests and laypeople called by Pope Francis to address the biggest challenges facing the church has been wrapped in a veil of silence or — as the pope calls his gag order on participants — “fasting” from discussing what is going on inside the plenary sessions and small groups at the Vatican.
In his inaugural address to the 364 synod participants and the theologians and other experts on hand to guide them, Francis called for “a certain type of fasting of the public word” to protect the spiritual conversations that he hopes will overcome the church’s polarization.
Francis later declared that “the church is taking a break” so it can turn its gaze inward to resolve the issues it faces.
What little has been said, even from the synod’s most vociferous critics, has been muted. On Thursday (Oct. 5), a former Vatican doctrine czar, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, spoke briefly about the synod to EWTN, the conservative Catholic news network based in the United States, saying only, “The experience at the table was very good, therefore I have some form of optimism,” and add …
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