Nuncio to bishops: continue to promote and live Synodality

Representative of the Pope in Austria at the General Assembly of the Bishops' Conference in Seitenstetten: Working on Synodality in the everyday life of the church communities

The Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana has encouraged the Austrian bishops to continue to courageously live and promote the Synodal process initiated by Pope Francis in their respective dioceses. The Nuncio was a guest at the General Assembly of the Bishops' Conference in Seitenstetten on Tuesday afternoon. The Pope's representative literally said in his greeting to the bishops: "The Holy Father thanks you for everything you do for the Church and thus for the people of Austria, and at the same time he encourages you not to let up in your testimony and your service , which is so important to this country."

Moving forward together

According to Archbishop Lopez, Synodality means moving forward together: "The path that God is pointing to the Church is precisely that of living community more intensively and concretely and of walking together." Parallelisms in the church had to be overcome. By this the nuncio understood, among other things, "the clergy separated from the laity, the consecrated persons separated from the clergy and the faithful, the spouses and families little involved in community life, the charismatic movements separated from the parishes".

There is still a long way to go before the Church lives as one body, as one real people, united by one faith in Christ the Redeemer, animated by the same sanctifying Spirit and directed towards the same mission, the merciful love of God the Father , to proclaim," said Nuncio Lopez, referring to Pope Francis.

Rooted in tradition, open to new things

This year, the Pope invites the whole Church, and of course the bishops, to consider the forty-day Lent as a synodal journey, the nuncio said. The synodal path is rooted in the tradition of the church and at the same time open to the new. Tradition is the source of inspiration for the search for new paths, avoiding the opposing temptations of immobility and improvised experimentation. It is important to resist the dangerous temptation to follow "easier, pseudo-ecclesiastical paths" or to adopt the "worldly logic of numbers and surveys", as well as to rely too much on the power of one's own ideas, programs or structures Archbishop Lopez, in turn, with reference to Pope Francis.

(Cathcon: Tradition is not the inspiration for synodality!!!)

Rather, it is important to listen to Jesus. "Lent is a time of grace as we listen to him who speaks to us," Lopez said. Beyond the Holy Scriptures, Jesus also speaks "in our brothers and sisters, especially in the faces and stories of those who need help". Listening to Christ also happens in mutual listening in the synodal process.

The nuncio strongly encouraged the bishops to work on Synodality in the daily life of ecclesial communities. Synodality is at the same time a "spiritual and action-oriented path", according to Nuntius Lopez, using a formulation by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

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