The man-centeredness of Modernist Rome has once again been on glaring display in a two-part interview between Pope Leo XIV and Crux Senior Correspondent Elise Ann Allen, recently published.
The interview will be included in her new biography of the pontiff, León XIV: Ciudadano del mundo, Misionero del siglo XXI (“Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century”).
As expected, the interview is a clear indication that the book will be good for nothing but lining your hamster’s cage.
On the question of how the Holy Father would define synodality, he had the following unsurprising, cotton-candy response:
“Synodality is an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand. Speaking of the Church now, this means each and every member of the Church has a voice and a role to play through prayer, reflection… through a process. There are many ways that that could happen, but of dialogue and respect of one another. To bring people together and to understand that relationship, that interaction, that creating opportunities of encounter, is an important dimension of how we live our life as Church.
Some people have felt threatened by that. Sometimes bishops or priests might feel, ‘synodality is going to take away my authority.’ That’s not what synodality is about, and maybe your idea of what your authority is, is somewhat out of focus, mistaken. I think that synodality is a way of describing how we can come together and be a community and seek communion as a Church, so that it’s a Church whose primary focus is not on an institutional hierarchy, but rather on a sense of ‘we together,’ ‘our Church.’ Each person with his or her own vocation—priests, laity, bishops, missionaries, families. Everyone with a specific vocation that they’ve been given has a role to play and something to contribute, and together we look for the way to grow and walk together as Church.
It’s an attitude which I think can teach a lot to the world today. A little bit ago we were talking about polarization. I think this is sort of an antidote. I think this is a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges that we have in the world today. If we listen to the Gospel, and if we reflect upon it together, and if we strive to walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today, there is a lot to be gained for us there.
I do very much hope that the process that began long before the last synod, at least in Latin America—I spoke about my experience there. Some of the Latin American Church has really contributed to the universal Church—I think there’s great hope if we can continue to build on the experience of the past couple years and find ways of being Church together. Not to try and transform the Church into some kind of democratic government, which, if we look at many countries around the world today, democracy is not necessarily a perfect solution to everything. But respecting, understanding the life of the Church for what it is and saying, ‘we have to do this together.’ I think that offers a great opportunity to the Church and offers an opportunity for the Church to engage with the rest of the world. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, I think that’s been significant, and there’s a lot to be done yet…”
“…And there is a lot to be done yet…” I am sure there is—a lot more destruction the Modernists have to inflict on Mother Church.
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