What to Expect of Pope Leo's Amoris Laetitia Meeting
Reading the Signs Behind Pope Leo’s October Gathering on Family and Doctrine
What to expect of the Amoris Laetitia meeting
By Serre Verweij
Pope Leo will be holding a meeting with the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences in October to discuss challenges to the modern family. He specifically indicated the meeting will also deal with Amoris Laetitia in the light of new developments.
This has led to uncertainty and speculation as to whether this is an attempt to consolidate Amoris Laetitia, or a way to de facto correct the document. Some see this as a revisiting that could finally clear up ten years of confusion.
In a previous article, we analyzed why it was somewhat likely that Pope Leo could overturn Amoris Laetitia. Various hints, including the fact that then-bishop Prevost never implemented Amoris Laetitia, as well as Pope Leo’s more conservative statements on marital indissolubility to the Roman Rota, were examined. The announcement of the meeting, as well as Pope Leo’s actions and words surrounding it, fit into the background knowledge we provided and can be read within that light.
The recent announcement on the meeting by the Secretariat of the Synod provided more details and confirmed some key things:
The meeting will be separate from the ongoing synodal process which Francis (or so those who spoke for him while he was in the hospital claimed).
Unlike Francis’ synodal process, this meeting does not appear to involve any laity or women or non-bishops of any kind.
The Secretariat of the Synod will have only a supporting role with Pope Leo transferring main responsibility for the meeting to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.
This meeting, alongside the two Extraordinary Consistories, suggests Pope Leo is sidestepping the synodal process and returning to Episcopal Collegiality by discussing the really important issues with his brother bishops only. The undermining of episcopal authority appears to be coming to an end. It also suggests Pope Leo might not trust the Secretariat of the Synod and specifically Cardinal Grech too much. While Cardinal Farrell who heads the Dicastery for the Laity, is also controversial as he’s had ties to disgraced homosexual abuser McCarrick and supported James Martin’s book, as well as Amoris Laetitia, he has also taken more conservative stances and is far less radical than Grech. He explicitly reaffirmed Humanae Vitae and the Church’s prohibition of practices such as artificial insemination during Francis’ final years and prevented radical LGBT activists from speaking at the world meeting of families in Ireland.
