The participants of the Synod: From very liberal to very conservative

Vatikanstadt - Pope Francis loves liveliness in the Church. This is also evident in the Church leader's choice of participants for the World Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome. Interesting personalities are meeting in the synod hall.

Published on 05.10.2023 at 00:01 – by Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA)

Sister Mary Barron

Born in Ireland, Sister Mary Barron of the Order "Our Lady of the Apostles" has recently become head of the International Union of Superiors of Religious Orders (UISG) with its headquarters in Rome. This makes her the largest organised women's power in the Church; her association represents more than half a million women religious worldwide. She has gained international experience in the Sedos network, in which about 80 male and female religious congregations that are active internationally exchange information. With Sister Mary, for the first time, organised women religious have a voice at a Synod of Bishops that is not merely symbolic.

Luca Casarini

The Italian has been involved for five years with the organisation Mediterranea Saving Humans, which rescues migrants in distress at sea. The former left-wing radical, who used to be involved in squatting and anti-globalisation protests, has found his way back into the Church through Pope Francis. He appointed him to the Synod to report on his experiences. He does not have the right to vote, but will probably use his right to speak.

Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler

Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler, aSwiss national from the canton of Aargau, has been working for the church relief agency Fastenaktion for a long time and is also well networked internationally. She already participated in the European part of the World Synod in Prague. She represents feminist positions and advocates a consistent opening of the church for members of sexual minorities. In a recent interview she said: "Good friends who have the same position as me have left. But I try to fight from the inside. I don't want to leave it to traditionalists to define what is really Catholic."

Father James Martin

The US Jesuit priest promotes pastoral care that is open to people with same-sex orientation and members of other sexual minorities. The former General Electric executive became a priest as a career changer. He teaches at the Jesuits' Fordham University in New York, writes for the Jesuit magazine "America" and can often be seen on television discussing church topics. The list of his book publications is as long as that of his honorary doctorates. Conservative bishops in the USA accuse him of leaving the ground of church teaching, others defend him. Pope Francis has personally appointed Martin as a voting member of the Synod.

Gerhard Ludwig Müller

The Pope also personally appointed the German cardinal, who from Martin's point of view is at the opposite end of the Catholic spectrum, as a synod member, surprising many. In 2017, he had sent him into early retirement as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Müller is sceptical about a possible constitutional reform of the Catholic Church in the direction of more synodal co-determination. He is also critical of the Pope's desire to open up the Church to people with different sexual orientations. Müller will find allies above all among Eastern European, African and US-American bishops.

Momoko Nishimura

The Japanese bishop is one of the two women among the nine vice-presidents of the Synod Assembly. She belongs to the lay community "Servants of the Gospel of God's Mercy", which is represented in 15 countries, and studied at the Catholic Sophia University in Tokyo, where the future Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich taught at the time. The polyglot educator worked in Argentina for several years before returning to Japan. There she made a name for herself as translator of the Pope's encyclical "Fratelli tutti". Like Hollerich, Nishimura attaches great importance to a course of the Synod that favours patient listening and discernment.

Archbishop of Manaus, Leonardo Ulrich Steiner — Bild: ©picture alliance/dpa | Guido Kirchner
Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner is Archbishop of Manaus.

Christoph Schönborn

The Viennese cardinal and archbishop is a synod veteran in Rome. He has already attended about a dozen meetings of the World Synod of Bishops. At the decisive round of the Family Synod in 2015, it was he who, together with Cardinal Müller, formulated the compromise on the thorny issue of remarried divorcees. The story in Rome is that Pope Francis is keeping the Cardinal, who is in poor health, in office as Archbishop of Vienna primarily so that he can once again mediate and provide guidance at the meetings of the World Synod in 2023 and 2024. Schönborn is a member of the Synod Council, which consists of 15 cardinals and a patriarch.

Leonardo Ulrich Steiner

The German-born Archbishop of Manaus comes from the Franciscan Order. He was secretary general of the Great Episcopal Conference of Brazil from 2011 to 2019. At the Amazon Synod 2019, he advocated for the relaxation of celibacy. This demand found a majority among the bishops at the time, but was not subsequently adopted by Pope Francis. Nevertheless, he made Steiner a cardinal in August 2022. He could become a bridge builder between the reformers from German-speaking countries and Latin America.

by Ludwig Ring-Eifel (KNA)