UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* Pope Francis likely knows well by now that his current Vatican reform strategy needs some major redirection. The pope’s (1) well publicized Curia shaming and reshuffling, (2) limited financial management makeover, (3) clerically dominated Family Synods, and (4) slow moving abuse commission, as presently structured, cannot likely stop the Catholic Church from sinking further and faster in the escalating tsunami of scandals. That seems clear enough.
* Moreover, the pope has yet even to address publicly the most needed structural “fix” — establishing transparent procedures for the selection and oversight of the 0.01% Church leadership by the worldwide Catholic 99.9% faithful. As presently planned, the Final Synod will not even discuss this key reform, which is absolutely required to avoid more scandals under future popes.
* Importantly, informed Vatican reporter, Robert Mickens, recently reported on a “rumor” that some experts at pontifical universities in Rome have been “asked to quietly prepare preliminary documents for an ecumenical council to be called during or after the 2015 Synod.”
* While Mickens understandably appears skeptical, this rumor makes a lot of sense. Pope Francis may have no strategic choice at his Final Synod in nine months but to call then for a full council, as Pope John XXIII did over half a century ago, to keep Francis’ reform effort alive as he begins his eightieth year. After the flawed Synods, a council with a broad and representative participation of lay Catholics, female and male, will likely be Pope Francis final chance to save the Catholic Church and to compel his successor to follow Francis’ lead. It is also how the Catholic Church resolved many earlier crises.
* The Catholic Church’s biggest problem, popes’ self serving illusion of personal papal infallibility, was created at the First Vatican Council almost 150 years ago. This illusion still prevents Pope Francis and his likely successors from addressing and fixing honestly and effectively problems exacerbated by the last two popes, since each new pope, including Francis so far, now tries to cover up his predecessors’ mistakes instead of fixing them. This is vividly shown in the continuing papal refusal to remove the ban on contraception, as Pope Francis prepares to tell the “overchildrened” Catholics of the Philippines they should avoid contraception and just have more Catholic babies. A new council is likely the only way to correct this major and fatal error.
* Some will say that another council, with mainly appointees of the last two popes, will never change this historically unsupportable “infallibility dogma”. If so, and they may be right, the Vatican will then be forced to change by outside governmental and legal pressures soon enough. Pope Francis has a choice. He can call a council to really make the needed changes or he can wait to be forced to do so.
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