Another Ecumenical Council?

Jan 15, 2015

By Robert Mickens
Someone sent me a curious note a week or so ago, trying to confirm a “rumor” that experts at some of the pontifical universities in Rome have been “asked to quietly prepare preliminary documents for an ecumenical council to be called during or after the 2015 synod.” If a jeremiad against the Roman Curia or the unconventional selection of new cardinals could cause such consternation, just imagine what this would do!

At first, I dismissed this as pure fantasy. Then I thought such a rumour could have its origins with the “clericalists”, both lay and ordained, that see Francis as “Enemy No. 1” of the backward-looking Church they've been earnestly trying to recreate the past decade or so. Seriously, with the current crop of bishops that have been appointed over the past 20 years or so, a council might seem a winning strategy for reinserting “retrodoxy.”

But the question is whether Pope Francis would really call a council at this time. There are a number of reasons why it seems unlikely. First, he has shown he embraces the ecclesiology of Vatican II, which has still not been implemented adequately in the Church’s structures. So, calling another council would seem premature at this time. Although, many thought the same thing when John XXII called Vatican Council II.

Second, to be a truly ecumenical council, the other parts of the one (divided) Church would have to be involved and that does not appear at all likely. On the other hand, the absence of the Orthodox and the separated communities of the Western Church would not exclude a general council for those in communion with Rome.

But the third reason why it’s not likely to happen is most compelling. Pope Francis is trying to develop the Synod of Bishops so that the principle of synodality becomes a permanent part of the structure for governing the universal Church. My hunch is that, rather than call a council, the Pope will continue to revamp and expand the synod. More plausible is that next October’s session, for example, will likely have to be extended.

Source: Global Pulse