SoS Sat Report: The Synod's Bill Clinton moment

The Synod is winding down, going out on a whimper.

The story of Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., the Synod’s Spiritual Director, and the African bishops and dark money from America, Russia and the Middle East, is getting more bizarre. When in hole, rule number one, stop digging.

As a brief recap, on October 12th, L’Osservatore Romano, the Holy See’s paper of record, published an article that was first published in English in the Tablet in April, in which Fr. Radcliffe is quoted as saying the following:

“Another fear raised by the Fiducia Supplicans is that there seems to have been no consultation-even with bishops or other Vatican offices-before its release; not exactly, perhaps, a good example of synodality. The African bishops are under heavy pressure from evangelicals, with American money; from Russian Orthodox, with Russian money; and from Muslims, with money from rich Gulf countries. There should have been a discussion with them before, not after, the publication of the statement.”

Following on from a response given by Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu, to a question at yesterday’s Synod Press Briefing, today Fr. Radcliffe issued a clarification that came via a statement released through the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops (emphasis my own):

In response to reports following Cardinal Ambongo's response to a question at the press conference of 22 October, Cardinal-elect Timothy Radcliffe OP wishes to make the following points clear.

1. Cardinal Ambongo's reply did not refer to the article published in L'Osservatore Romano, but one by Phil Lawler in Catholic Culture of 17 October. This was the article the cardinal showed me on his phone and which we discussed.

2. Lawler's reading of the Osservatore article misinterpreted what I had written. I never wrote or suggested that positions taken by the Catholic Church in Africa were influenced by financial considerations. I was acknowledging only that the Catholic Church in Africa is under tremendous pressure from other religions and church [sic] which are well funded by outside sources.

3. I am most grateful to Cardinal Ambongo for his clear defence of my position.

If taken in isolation; “The African bishops are under heavy pressure from evangelicals, with American money; from Russian Orthodox, with Russian money; and from Muslims, with money from rich Gulf countries”, okay maybe if you squint real hard, he didn’t say that positions taken by the Catholic Church in Africa were influenced by financial considerations, because that is preposterous.

Fine, lets take him at his word, the African bishops are under heavy pressure from evangelicals, with American money; from Russian Orthodox, with Russian money; and from Muslims, with money from rich Gulf countries, to do what exactly, and what does that pressure have to do with consulting with the African bishops about blessing individual homosexuals who present spontaneously as a couple for said blessing, remembering that you are not blessing the couple and definitely not blessing the relationship.

If the point you are trying to make is that the Vatican should have consulted with the bishops first, why mention American, Russian and Arab money, unless you think those factors will influence the response that the bishops would have given the Vatican in such a consultation.

Fr. Radcliffe certainly isn’t a fool. Bill Clinton wasn’t either, but he thought other people were.

Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops

This afternoon the Synod delegates elected the new members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod. The role of the Ordinary Council is mainly advising the Pope on the topic on the next Synod, with the Pope having the ultimate say. They will also be involved in implementing the synodal process on synodality and in preparing for the next Synod.

Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis has increased the total number of members from 15 to 17, with the number of members elected by Synod delegates remaining at 12. The Holy Father will appoint 4 members, and once the theme for the forthcoming Synod is the decided, the head of the respective Dicastery of the Roman Curia will also become a member of the ordinary council.

The elected members are as follows:

FROM THE EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES
His Beatitude Youssef Absi, Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites, Head of the Synod of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church

FROM OCEANIA
His Excellency Most Rev. Msgr. Timothy John Costelloe, S.D.B., Archbishop of Perth (Australia)

FROM NORTH AMERICA
His Excellency Most Rev. Msgr. Daniel Ernest Flores, Bishop of Brownsville (United States of America)
His Excellency Most Rev. Msgr. Alain Faubert, Bishop of Valleyfield (Canada)

FROM LATIN AMERICA
His Eminence Luis José Cardinal Rueda Aparicio, Archbishop of Bogotá (Colombia)
His Excellency José Luis Azuaje Ayala, Archbishop of Maracaibo (Venezuela)

FROM EUROPE
His Eminence Jean-Marc Cardinal Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille (France)
His Excellency Gintaras Grušas, Archbishop of Vilnius (Lithuania)

FROM AFRICA
His Eminence Dieudonné Cardinal Nzapalainga, C.S.Sp., Archbishop of Bangui (Central African Republic)*
His Excellency Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda (Cameroon)*

FROM ASIA
His Eminence Filipe Neri António Sebastião Cardinal do Rosário Ferrão, Patriarch of the East Indies, Archbishop of Goa and Damão (India)
His Eminence Pablo Virgilio Cardinal-designate Siongco David, Bishop of Kalookan (Philippines)

*Nzapalainga and Fuanya both served on the ordinary council during this Synod, and have been re-elected by their peers this time round too.

Now we wait. Tomorrow Pope Francis’ encyclical on the Sacred Heart will be released. Saturday night, perhaps even late night, will see a press conference for the presentation of the final document of the Synod on Synodality. It is almost over. Last year’s Synod started with so much enthusiasm, this one is ending with people fatigued and just wanting to go home. Synodality, eh