“Together we shall seek the truth”

The Third General Special Assembly of the Bishops’ Synod, on the theme “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” will open in a few days at the Vatican (October 5- 19). These preparatory months have been marked by debates and reflections. Vincenzo Corrado, for SIR Europe, reviews the theme with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Bishops’ Synod. Your Eminence, the past months have been marked by thrusts for reflection, as well as by polemics triggered by a set of issues, such as communion to divorcees. How is this important ecclesial event taking shape? “It is necessary to welcome it with serenity, reflection, calmness. I realize that it triggers anticipation as the event draws close, especially over certain themes highlighted by the media, to which certain prelates have exposed themselves, but I believe that expressing personal opinions is a positive fact, provided it is done with civility and in a constructive manner. In order to give appropriate answers the latter should be the result of discussion and of the good will to make steps forward in the identification of solutions in charity and truth. I wonder why not speak also of polygamy, of combined marriages, of mixed marriages, of poverty of all kinds and shapes that create the conditions for separation, divorce, failures… These and many other issues will be discussed during the Synod, in particular the ways to find the best language to transmit to young people the beauty of the Gospel of the family. I hope it will be addressed as a contribution and a form of support to the Synod fathers in their reflections and as an opportunity to create a wide-scale public opinion, with broad horizons, namely, a global vision of the family”. Open discussion and debate during the meeting: will it really be so? “On several occasions Pope Francis said and made understood that it’s important to express oneself without fears or suspicions. Faith is experienced and incarnated in concrete people; the effort of the Church and of pastoral workers is to offer it in its entirety to everyone, with simplicity and honesty. Feeling free to express our beliefs or our doubts highlights the quality of the human person thereby distinguishing him from other creatures and making him responsible before God and the rest of mankind. Synod debates will be open, there will be discussions, while participants, each in their various functions, are called to prioritize not their personal interest or viewpoint but rather to seek the truth that is not an abstract concept, i.e. fruit of philosophical or theological speculation, but the person of Christ, Man-God, historical man and Son of the Father: ‘I am the way, the truth, the life.’ This must be the point of departure. The first evangelizer was Jesus, who went on the streets and made himself known in words and gestures, and finally, with his life witness”. The assembly will not be concluded in October. With an unprecedented decision it will be continued in several stages. As if to underline that synodality does not accept decisions but makes them mature… “Precisely! The decision of the Holy Father to hold a Synod assembly that will take place in two stages highlights the intention to identify synodality for what it truly is, namely a joint undertaking that envisages reflections, pauses, resumptions and so on until the goal is reached. All this should be done not by individuals, by small groups of people or commissions alone but through the involvement of the People of God. We have already seen it with the preparatory document and the annexed questionnaire, to which a huge number of people and institutions have responded. The Synod is an assembly of bishops and other entitled parties, but it acts with the participation of the entire Church”. Participants in the Assembly include 13 married couples from several countries, including people from war zones. Will their testimony be listened to and taken into account? “Indeed, there are thirteen married couples from world countries. Their presence is first of all the testimony ofa living experiences, to be offered to the attention of everyone as a beautiful faith experience, a major factor for the positive outcome of a marriage and family. It is in the variety of cultures and world traditions: there is no geography, history, literature or science that fails to present marriage and the family as a fundamental expression of society, and for Christians a domestic Church that is incarnated within in it thanks to baptism”. How will the Synod be concluded? Will there be a document that will serve as “a guideline” for the ordinary assembly of 2015? “At the end of the Synod there will be a message to the People of God and a so-called Synod document, due to replace the Propositiones. The document, after approval by the assembly, will be handed to the Holy Father who will dispose of it as he wishes, and will act as the grounds of the Instrumentum laboris of the 2015 Synod”.