Pope Francis is pushed in his wheelchair after leading the Angelus prayer on St Peter's square in Rome, on Sunday. Part of the reason, I suspect, is what the famous Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once called “the slow work of God”. Bishops have received a curt letter from Rome telling them that they need to get their act together in responding to the synodal reforms ­– effectively Vatican II for slow learners. The clear message from Pope Francis is that bishops cannot choose not to be synodal. Dioceses, bishops’ conferences and parishes, hoping that the demand to receive and embed synodality would go away, are beginning to realise that there’s no opt-out clause.

Source: The Irish Times April 06, 2025 19:21 UTC