Cardinal Joseph Zen wrote last month to bishops and cardinals attending the synod on synodality, urging them to petition Pope Francis to change the procedures for the meeting, and to challenge synodal organizers’ program for the sessions.
In a letter dated Sept. 21, a copy of which was obtained by The Pillar, the 91-year old emeritus Bishop of Hong Kong told the bishops and cardinals that he is “confounded” by what he sees as a reinvention of the Biblical concept of synodality by the event’s organizers, in a bid to promote teaching contrary to the faith.
The cardinal urged bishops to champion true “episcopal collegiality” during the synodal process.
“Because of what I am going to say, I can easily be accused of ‘conspiracy theory,’ but I see clearly a whole plan of manipulation,” the cardinal said.
“They [the synodal organizers] begin by saying we must listen to all. Little by little they make us understand that among the ‘all’ are those whom we have ‘excluded.’ Finally, we understand what they mean are people who opt for a sexual morality different from that of Catholic tradition.”
“Often they claim not to have an agenda,” Zen wrote. “This is truly an offense to our intelligence. Anybody can see which conclusions they are aiming at.”
In the six-page text, Zen also expressed his “even greater confusion and worry” at what he perceives to be concerted effort to use the synod to establish democracy in place of the Church’s sacramental hierarchy, as the means of establishing doctrine.
The cardinal admitted a “malicious suspicion” that the synodal process, originally announced to conclude after a single session in Rome this October, was extended by an extra year because “organizers, not sure to be able to reach during this session their goals, are opting for more time to maneuver.”
Zen’s letter, dated Sept. 21, has been circulated in recent weeks in several languages among bishop and cardinal synodal invitees.
The letter followed the cardinal’s submission, along with four other cardinals, of several formal questions — dubia — to Pope Francis asking him to clarify the Church’s teaching on a range of doctrinal issues related to the synodal agenda, including blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of women.
Zen wrote in his letter that synodal organizers “speak of ‘conversations in the spirit’ as if it were a magic formula.”
He added that while participants have been invited to “expect ‘surprises’ from the Spirit,” that language seems to be cover for a predetermined outcome in the synod.
“Evidently they are already informed which surprises to expect,” Zen wrote.
Zen argued that an emphasis on “conversation” in small groups — as opposed to “discussion” and debate among the synodal body as a whole — is a deliberate ploy to prevent open debate over controversial agendas to change Church teaching, which he believes will be operative among some synod organizers and participants.
In a passage of the letter likely to spark controversy, Zen described the synodal secretariat staff as “very efficient at the art of manipulation,” and urged participants “not to obey them” when “they tell you to go and pray, interrupting the sessions of the Synod.”
“Tell them that it is ridiculous to think that the Holy Spirit is waiting for these your prayers offered at the last moment,” he wrote.
“Before the Synod, you and your faithful must have already accumulated a mountain of prayers, as Pope John XXIII did before Vatican II….”
From the Pillar
I very much admire Cardinal Zen. He is in my prayers!
The Holy Spirit will not surprise anyone with anything contrary to the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition.
No, we can’t blame the Holy Spirit for actions of apostates.
I already have Catholic friends telling me that the church has the pope’s permission to celebrate gay weddings.
It was on the news. the news got the story wrong.
But most ironic thing is that it was Cardinals Zen, Burke, Sarah, Brandmuller and Sandoval Iniguez that caused it.
Your arms are too short to box with God.
“Arms too short to box with God?” Whom are you kidding? Is there even one honest cleric left in the Jesuit Order, and in the Vatican, today? The outstanding, faithful, courageous, heroic Five Dubia Cardinals (Sarah, Burke, Zen, Brandmuller, and Sandoval Iniguez) stand practically all alone, with Jesus Christ Crucified. It was long ago prophesied, that only a few will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. We all know “you-know-who” is responsible for the False Religion of Ambiguity, that is causing massive confusion to the public.
They know. They know. I am sure that they are horrified that their actions caused this.
There are not gay blessings in the Church but news stories are reporting that there are.
And they are getting it from the Pope’s answer to the dubia.
So, you could blame the Pope’s “ambiguity.” Or you could blame the Cardinals for asking a question that they already knew the answer to.
Whatever their motivation, God gave them a super smackdown.
“Whatever their motivation, God gave them a super smackdown.” Their motivation they made quite clear — to pin Pope Francis down on where he stood on key issues where in their view ambiguity seemed to reign. Francis long responses did not dispel their conviction that Francis was deliberately seeking to lay the groundwork for a change in Church teaching and prompted the second form of the dubia. I fail to see how the pontiff’s answers in any way constitute a smackdown. Were these great men humiliated? No. Were they (figuratively) tarred and feathered? No. Were they shown to be insincere tricksters, hypocrites, as some outlets likened these saintly men? No. Were they horrified by media responses? You’ve got to be kidding. If they were horrified these great and humble men would have had the courage to say so publicly. Did they already know Pope Francis’ answers before they asked the question? That is a matter of speculation, but what relevance does this question have to your claim that somehow God smacked them down? Your post gives a take on the dubia Cardinals that is pure fantasy.
To the contrary. These fine Cardinals are not as you say “horrified that their actions caused this”. Rather, they are most likely appalled at the Pope’s subversion of the essential parts of the Tradition, as Cardinal Burke said. As for the “smackdown”? Don’t be so absurd.
My first reaction to the news story which was completely inaccurate (CBS news), was “this is the devil”. the devil is the father of all lies and the lies about the Synod and about the Pope have spread to national news media.
But the devil can only do what the Lord allows.
So why did the Lord allow it?
Not really to smack down the Cardinals, but to bring gay people to church.
Gay couples who watch CBS news have been told they could get their marriages blessed by the Church.
If they try to, they will be told “The Catholic Church does not do that.”
Then (if the priests obey the Pope), they will dialogue with the gay couple and listen to them and accompany them in their walk of faith.
The dubia Cardinals are all humble enough to own their behavior and what resulted from it. They did something they should not have done and this has the consequence. I do not know their motives. Each of those men knows the teaching of the Church. They could have clarified it for the faithful themselves. They know Scripture and Tradition is immutable. They know marriage is between one man and one woman and that the Church cannot bless sin. They know women cannot be ordained to the priesthood. I know Church Teaching and I am a lay person.
They have to accept that their actions caused the Catholic Church to be represented falsely by the secular media. That is the smackdown.
These men are not bigots. They do not hate gay people. Cardinal Burke tried to start an order of nuns for trans women. The Vatican told him “no”.
The Pope’s perversion of essential parts of the Tradition?
Cardinal Burke said that?
You need to give your source.
from Cardinal Burke! October 6, 2023 at 5:28 pm: “They have to accept that their actions caused the Catholic Church to be represented falsely by the secular media. That is the smackdown.”
I’m sorry to differ with you sir/madam, but it was the secular media that caused the false representation of the Catholic Church by the secular media.
“They did something they should not have done and this has the consequence. I do not know their motives.”
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/the-dubia-were-not-meant-as-an-attack-on-the-pope-cardinal-burke-says
I know two honest Jesuits. And, as has been noted, I knew and knew of others who have preceded us into eternity.
Saint Ignatius, pray for the Jesuits and all of us.
I too know some good Jesuits. When they are good, they tend to be great.
Not yet, but the idea has never been totally opposed by Pope Francis. Cardinal Kissy Tucho Fernadez says they are still studying it. (Trying to determine if it’s okay for the Church to bless sin?)
What upsets Dubia Brother Cardinal Burke was Cardinal Tucho’s claim that anybody who opposes the Pope on the synod is guilty of schism. As if the Pope has his own magisterium apart from the Church’s. Coming from the Head of Doctrine, that’s nothing to be sneezed at.
https://lanuovabq.it/it/grave-accusarci-di-scisma-molti-cardinali-sostengono-i-dubia
We’ll wait and pray.
I daresay that if St. Ignatius of Loyola could see the future, specifically the 21st century, he would not have founded the Society of Jesus.
From the book Jesuit at Large, by Paul Mankowski, S.J. , a rare soul who died in 2020, p. 14: “It is my conviction that, at present, the Society of Jesus is a corrupt order. This means that it has serious problems in all its endeavors at all levels of authority, and more importantly, it has lost the capacity to mend itself by its own internal resources…the real scandal is chastity…In all candor I have to say that, at present, I see no indication whatever of the capacity or a willingness on the part of the Roman Jesuit leadership to address and remedy these problems.”
I may be wrong here but I do not think we can understand the mind of pope Francis without understanding the Jesuit order of today. How much of the corruption of the order clings to pope Francis I cannot say. Only his words and deeds can say.
The author of that book is George Weigel. In his introduction, there is a letter that Mankowski wrote to a young person inquiring about joining the Jesuits in 2004. That is where that quote comes from.
In the letter he does say that there are orthodox Jesuits. Pope Francis was treated cruelly by his superiors when in Argentina. He does not seem corrupt to me at all.
“He does not seem corrupt to me at all.” I respect your view, even if I cannot wholeheartedly agree. That said, I wonder how his treatment in Argentina has shaped his Jesuit vocation. I would like to hear from someone with more knowledge of this than I. Perhaps yourself?
What do you mean by his Jesuit vocation?
He was always obedient to his superiors.
One thing Jesuits always said was that there would never be a Jesuit Pope.
Neither he, not John Paul II or Benedict XVI wanted to be Pope.
Once there, you accept the Lord’s Will and you do the job the way the Holy Spirit tells you.
The Lord gave the keys to Peter (and now his successors.)
That way there is no question.
What he declares on earth, is declared in Heaven.
You never have to worry like people are now.
It is because of their lack of faith.
From Jesuit vocation, October 7, 2023 at 8:52 pm: “What do you mean by his Jesuit vocation? … What he declares on earth, is declared in Heaven.”
Everyone is shaped by life experiences; to say otherwise is not reasonable. If Pope Francis was treated cruelly by his superiors when in Argentina, I would like to know how and why. It might help me understand his personal style of papal leadership as I have come to understand it.
Please, not everything Pope Francis says is ratified by Heaven. He wouldn’t want that pressure of responsibility!
He was exiled.
If you google, Pope Francis exiled in Argentina, you can choose your own source.
Everything he says on faith and morals is infallible.
Other things he says, even in the administration of duties is supported by God.
100%
When he speaks off the top of his head in a press conference, that is not an official proclamation. Sometimes he has to clarify. Give him a break.
Your task is to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given you His Pope.
Pray to Jesus and Mary if you do not understand something.
Do not let others tell you what he said if possible. Do not accept Internet interpretations of what he said.
Use reliable media.
If someone asks you: Can women be ordained? the answer is no.
If someone asks you: Can gay marriages be blessed in the Church, the answer is no. Then tell them the name of a priest that they could go talk to.
If they say, I heard on the news, you can say “the news got the story wrong.”
Be honest.
The Pope was answering a dubia. He was talking to Cardinals. Men with degrees in canon law, philosophy, theology.
People lies about it are what ended up on the news.
Well, some Catholic cardinals and bishops and priests and DREs and RCIA teachers and religion teachers seem to need a refresher course about what the church teaches.
I’m kidding. They know full well what the church teaches and they reject it because they reject Catholic faith. There are people who do not have Catholic faith who are operating as cardinals, bishops, priests, DREs, RCIA teachers and religion teachers in the church.
There are members of the church trying to reverse important Catholic doctrines.