After the Synod of Bishops: Which Church does Pope Francis want?

Again and again, with all their might, like a prayer wheel against the clergy: rarely has anyone been so engaged in the battle as Pope Francis. Does he want to fire his employees?

“One has only to go to church tailor shops in Rome to see the scandal of young priests trying on priestly vestments, hats or lace-trimmed robes. The clergy are a scourge. The faithful and holy people of God are enslaved.

Who is this critic full of indignation coming? From the mouth of the church’s outside critic? It’s hard to accept. He certainly would not have uttered the last sentence. From an internal critic of the church, or a theologian driven by popular church liberation doctrine? Late churchgoer? Wallflower Pastor Initiative activist? Everything would be completely reasonable. But it is relatively far from the target.

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It was the head of the Catholics himself who delivered this sermon. In the final phase of the Synod of Bishops, which concluded on Sunday, Pope Francis made a clarion call to the laity in general and women in particular in his native Spanish. Nice – good.

He denounced only the clergy. Beautiful too. But he did not do this for the first time. Why does he constantly take action against his full-time and paid employees?

Which church does this pope want? One without clergy? One that has actually existed in the Amazon for many years and has rarely been noticed by the interested public due to the enormous distances, microscopically small population density, and pressing shortage of priests?

No pope in modern history has preached and spoken as freely (almost) publicly as the 265th successor to the Prince of the Apostles Peter, according to the Church’s official census. Pope Francis is not ashamed of this. In this respect, he is also the opposite model to his immediate predecessor Benedict.

What a contrast to Professor Benedict!

The former professor, who embodied what was right, was more or less reading from sight. Everything had to be very sharp when the Pope spoke. Claim: Almost eternal value. German theology was no longer in demand in the Vatican. Nor is it the all-knowing German position that sometimes comes to light in discussions about church reforms to be extracted from the universal church.

Of course, Pope Francis often has to read the texts of speeches at all kinds of events, of which he may be the dean; Which must have been written to by someone close to him. On the other hand, he seems to like freedom of expression. He accepts that sometimes there is some doubt or ambiguity. Infallibility in the Vatican, that was also yesterday.