Irish Examiner view: Reform is in the air at the Vatican

A global synod initiated by Pope Francis has revealed an across-the-board desire for reform in a variety of Catholic cultures

Although not a noted reformer, Pope Francis has frequently stressed the need for the Church to be in service to humanity rather than itself. Picture: Guglielmo Mangiapane/AP

The Catholic Church has not always been noted for its ability to sit up and take note of the wishes of its millions of adherents. 

Indeed, for centuries the Church and its subjects have been at loggerheads on a wide range of issues, but an invariably cloth-eared administration in the Vatican has ruled with an iron fist and not a velvet glove.

Fear, intimidation, and subjugation have more often than not been the way for Church leaders, rather than an attempt at compromise on anything from allowing priests to marry, the laicisation of ministry, to the ordination of women. 

Open, free, and considered discussion has never been part of the Vatican’s playbook. Too often, it seems, the Catholic Church has been in service to itself and not its devotees.

However, that may be about to change following the publication of a document summarising the progress of a global synod initiated by Pope Francis in 2021. Although not a noted reformer, the Pope has frequently stressed the need for the Church to be in service to humanity rather than itself.

The global reaction to the synod has surpassed all expectations and sets out the radical challenges facing the Catholic Church and especially with relation to the participation of women within its rigid framework.

Submissions to the synod have expressed a profound and vigorous desire for renewed forms of leadership within the Church itself and an across-the-board consistency of the need for reform from within a variety of global Catholic cultures.

A consensus desire for change is evident in the document, as is its insistence that the congregation and not the hierarchy are the Church’s biggest assets and should therefore be trusted.

That congregation’s view that the full and equal participation of women is needed, as is a full adaptation of LGBTQ+ rights, and an end to sacramental deprivation for those who somehow find themselves living outside Church laws, is as far-reaching as it is welcome.