Papal election anniversary: Synodality a key change
under Pope Francis
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ papacy has in many ways been
“one long Ignatian retreat by a Jesuit spiritual master for the entire Church”,
a seasoned Vatican watcher has said.
David Gibson, a Catholic reporter and prize-winning author,
also pointed to Francis’ promotion of “synodality” as a key change under his
papacy. He was interviewed by Susy Hodges.
Speaking in an interview marking the 4th anniversary of
Francis’ election on March 13th, 2013, Gibson said the Pope’s legacy will be
“to recover those practices of discernment, of really examining one’s
conscience.”
Gibson, who works for the US-based Religion News Service,
said he believed the prominence of “synodality” was the most significant change
introduced by the Argentinian pontiff.
“He’s trying to reset the entire way of being the Church, to
really pick something up from Vatican II, as he sees it, that has sort of been
lost over the years and over the decades. Those synods and meetings in the
Vatican to discuss various issues every couple of years had become, pro forma,
almost rubber stamp events.”
Instead, bishops, priests and the people of God wanted to
have “real input”. With the Pope saying “this is the style of Church we need”
he is “fundamentally re-orienting the management of the Church,” Gibson added.
Asked about Pope Francis’ popularity, Gibson said recent
surveys show it has increased to “almost 90 per cent” in the United States
during the last few months.
Catholics familiar with Jesuit priests, “see in him a kind
of pastor in a parish that so many of us have known. There is something, at
once, so unremarkable about it and yet, at the same time, the fact that he’s
Pope makes him so remarkable.”
Commenting on where he sees the Church going forward under
Pope Francis, Gibson said: “I think he wants to continue to have the Church to
discern where she is at this moment in history and then act on that.”
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