Word: synods
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Paul is the fourth Pope in a row to pass his 80th birthday and the seventh out of eight in the past century. Indeed, late last week he tried to end the resignation talk when he told the Synod of Bishops assembled in Rome: "From this event in our lives, for all the time that God may wish to allow us, we have the firm resolution to dedicate all of our strength for the good of the church...
...Pope's birthday was a prelude to the week's major event in Rome: the opening of Paul's fifth Synod of Bishops...
...youth. Though that may sound like a housekeeping matter, the church faces confusion over basic pedagogical methods, even the content of Catholicism. One leading Vatican prelate speaks for many of his colleagues when he complains: "Much of the teaching going on today does not follow any orthodox principles." Synod progressives will be lobbying for alternatives to traditional approaches. To bring the factions together, Paul has appointed a special "commission on controversies" for the meeting...
...Synod was originally considered one of the major reforms of the Second Vatican Council and of Paul's papacy. It was the chief structural means for collegiality (power sharing between the Pope and the bishops). But its luster dimmed once Paul made it clear that Synod recommendations could be accepted, modified or ignored at his will. At the last Synod, in 1974, Paul limited the agenda to evangelization. Bishops struggled for weeks to broaden the meaning of that topic, then finally scrapped most of their final report. In the three years since, the Pope has taken no action...
Still, the Synod remains the church's only international sounding board, and speeches there will be, dissected for hints on the bishops' attitudes toward the future direction of the papacy. The most pressing question will, of course, go unarticulated in the formal sessions: Who will succeed Paul...