Fr Timothy Radcliffe: It is no secret that Fiducia supplicans caused distress and anger among many bishops

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, in charge of leading the retreat that concludes this Tuesday in Rome in preparation for the second session of the Synod of Synodality, called on the participants to listen and trust, giving as an example the tensions generated by the declaration Begging for confidence from 2023, with which many members of the Synod “felt betrayed.”

At the beginning of his meditation, the priest stated that during this second session of the Synod, which begins tomorrow, “we must listen to each other” and trust “each other.” “This Synod depends on it,” he stressed.

“Some members of this Synod felt betrayed” with Begging for confidence

As an example of this “trust” and mutual listening, the priest pointed out that “it is not a secret that Begging for confidence caused anguish and anger among many bishops around the world”.

“Some members of this Synod felt betrayed. But the Church will only become a trustworthy community if we take the risk, like the Lord, to trust each other, even when we have been hurt,” he continued.

Father Radcliffe added that “the Lord entrusts himself to us again and again in every Eucharist, even if we betray him again and again.”

He also highlighted that “the sexual abuse crisis has painfully taught us that this cannot be an irresponsible trust that puts others at risk, especially minors. But a trust that encompasses our own risk of being hurt.”

In this sense, he stressed that “there is a global crisis of trust”, pointing out that “no one trusts politicians anymore”, that young people “are losing confidence in democracy” and that fake news and media manipulation ” “They mean we can’t trust that the truth is being told.”

“We trust that, with the grace of God, this Synod will bear fruit, although we cannot anticipate what it will be and it may not be what we want,” he said.

“Clergymen are the most distrustful of the synodal path”

He also highlighted that the baptized “in the royalty of Christ we are called to be shepherds: shepherds of the small flocks of our families, of the students of our schools, of our neighbors.”

The 79-year-old Dominican commented that “Jesus gives Peter a specific role in the community as its good shepherd,” a role particularly “for our ordained shepherds, to guide the sheep out of a narrow, introverted ecclesiastical fold and into the broader ones.” open spaces of the world. From the sacristy to the public square.”

However, he lamented that it often turns out “that it is the clerics who are most distrustful of the synodal path and those who most resist it. What authority do Peter and his successors have to do this?” he then asked.

“This is the joyful authority of the shepherds. We are forgiven people. We can drop the heavy mask of superiority, the burden of pretending to be terribly holy. “The joy of the repentant sinner is to enter into the dawning light of God’s loving judgment and discover oneself completely loved,” he added.

He also recalled that the Instrument of Labor of the Synod says that “we have often demanded that the People of God be accountable to the hierarchy, but the hierarchy must also be accountable to the People of God.”

“Clerical elitism is a denial of priestly identity”

He also defended that “clerical elitism is not only a lack of humility, but a denial of priestly identity” and that this would be “like being a gardener who thinks that his job is to pluck the flowers.”

“The temptation of the priest is to be a loner, doing everything by himself. But this contradicts his vocation, the call to friendship: friend of God, friendship with the laity, friendship with those who are on the margins, friendship with other priests in the presbytery,” he pointed out.

For this reason, he assured that “a lack of transparency and accountability corrupts the very heart of priestly identity,” since “the role of pastors is to be modest and honor the authority of all those in their care.”

He also emphasized that “rivalry is the enemy of good authority in the Church” and hoped that in this Synod “we can discern the authority of others and defer to it.”

“What new ministries are necessary for the Church to recognize its authority and entrust them to exercise it? The gospel sheds light on many who acted with authority at that time,” concluded the person in charge of leading the Synod retreat.

What is the Fiducia supplicans declaration?

On December 18, 2023, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, with the approval of Pope Francis, published the declaration Fiducia supplianswhich allows Catholic priests to bless couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples in a “pastoral” and non-ritualized way.

Its content made numerous bishops and episcopal conferences react, sometimes expressing a cautious reception and other times with direct criticism, to such an extent that the DDF published a note on January 4 in order to “help clarify the reception of Fiducia supplicans ”.

This note emphasizes that the statement is neither “heretical” nor “blasphemous” and that bishops cannot prohibit pastoral blessings. It also recognizes the particular situation of some countries, particularly in Africa, and offers guidelines for distinguishing between liturgical and pastoral blessings.

Father Radcliffe, who served as spiritual assistant at the 2023 synod assembly, has generated controversy in the past with statements about same-sex attraction. In the September 19 issue of L’Osservatore Romanothe newspaper of the Holy See, wrote about being in “the synodal path with homosexual Catholics”.