Word: vaticaners
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With the exception of the 1978 conclaves that elected Pope John Paul II and his short-lived predecessor, John Paul I, no meeting in Rome since Vatican II has provoked as much advance speculation as this synod. One reason is sheer mystery; its agenda is wide open, and no one knows what will happen. Beyond that, many liberals fear that the synod may be part of John Paul's ongoing campaign to enforce discipline and theological orthodoxy. Conversely, some conservatives look to the synod as an opportunity to act against what they see as near heretical aberrations that have sprung...
Authorized by Vatican II, the synods are periodic gatherings of bishops, convened to advise the Pope. They have no authority of their own to pass church laws. Since the council, seven synods have been held to discuss such specific topics as the role of the Christian family and the sacrament of penance. Next week's synod, however, is an "extraordinary" meeting, outside the regular three-year cycle. There will be 165 delegates, 102 of whom are presidents of national bishops' conferences. Other participants: 14 Eastern Rite prelates, 25 Vatican officials and three superiors of men's orders. Also present...
...synod will meet in an ultramodern Vatican conference room. John Paul, who plans to attend most of the plenary sessions, has appointed a balanced slate of three presiding cardinals: Johannes Willebrands, 76, a Dutch ecumenist who is president of the Vatican's Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity; John Krol of Philadelphia, 75, a conservative on ecclesiastical matters; and Joseph Malula of Zaïre, 67, a symbol of the Third World, which accounts for three-fifths of both the synod delegates and the globe's 825 million Catholics...
John Paul surprised the bishops last January with his call for the synod, allowing a mere ten months for planning. Many observers think the meeting will be too brief and ill prepared to do more than celebrate Vatican II's accomplishments. Still, says Father Paul White, editor of Boston's archdiocesan weekly, the Pilot, "the Pope didn't call this for nothing...
That is precisely what worries some of John Paul's critics. One concern: the questionnaire soliciting the reports from national bishops' conferences asked about "errors or abuses" in applying the teachings of Vatican II. Peter Steinfels, editor of the U.S. journal Commonweal, says that among his colleagues "damage control is the most pertinent phrase" in synod talk. Father Simon E. Smith, former executive secretary of U.S. Jesuit Missions who is now working in Kenya, sees a Vatican scheme to "box in the spirit" of the council. This can be "thwarted only if the assembled bishops take their own agenda...