VATICAN CITY
Crux
By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor October 6, 2015
ROME – As the 2015 Synod of Bishops gets underway, two things seem clear. One is that many prelates seem determined to stay positive as much as possible, playing down their differences and trying to shift the discussion away from controversial matters toward areas of potential common ground.
The other is that real tensions over issues, as well as the synod process, may make that goal awfully hard to achieve.
On Monday, the real work of the synod began when the opening speeches finished and the live video feed was turned off, allowing bishops to begin delivering their own brief talks to one another. There was an early round of remarks which, under new rules, had to be kept to no more than three minutes.
(One prelate compared the enforced brevity to sending out a tweet.)
Later in the day, there was an hour of “free discussion,” although there was some grumbling that a few participants used the time to deliver a canned speech, taking advantage of the ability to go on for four minutes rather than three.
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