Under the golden dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, the absolute center of the Catholic world, between the cyclopean marble columns of the transept and under the gaze of immense statues of saints covered in stone, the Church does penance. On the eve of the resumption, on Wednesday, October 2, of the work of the synod on the future of the Church that could determine the place of its heritage in history, Pope Francis presides over an assembly gathered to ask forgiveness for the sins of the institution.
“How could we be credible in our mission if we do not recognize our mistakes and if we do not bow down to heal the wounds we have caused with our sins? “, the pontiff asks softly, whose words resonate between the enormous walls of a building whose corners overflow with treasures and evoke a power previously unheard of.
Shortly before, seven cardinals followed one another on the stand, reading the petitions for forgiveness written by Francis, all of them punctuated by the words of ” pity “. These are wars, environmental destruction, but also evils that directly concern the institution. Among other sins we cite complicity with colonialism and slavery, the oppression of women and, of course, sexual abuse, a structural aspect of the Church’s crisis to which the synod must respond.
After the testimonies about the war, given by the Syrian sister Deema Fayad and by Sara Vatteroni, a volunteer welcoming immigrants, the victim of a pedophile priest also spoke. In front of the Pope and under the gaze of an assembly of cardinals and bishops, Laurence Gien, a South African baritone, said in the middle of his speech: “Too often the faces of abuse victims are hidden behind a veil of secrecy maintained with the complicity of the Church. »
“We walk together”
The day after this singular preamble, the second session of the XVImy Ordinary Synod of Bishops, a consultative instrument desired by Francis and dedicated to the future of the Church or to “synodality”, This virtue means giving rise to a more inclusive, less vertical, less centralized institution, overcoming to a certain extent the border, a source of abuse of power, that separates clergy from lay people. In Rome, some see the outcome of the synod as a possible return to the original Church. Others are skeptical about the decisions that could be expected, or even fear the opening of a “Pandora’s box” with the risk of seeing already evident internal fractures explode.
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