POPE SAYS ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS CAN BE A SUBJECT OF STUDY

An historic synod began at the Vatican yesterday. In this year and next the assembly will discuss a wide-ranging set of issues facing the Roman church today. For the first time, laity, including women, among the 450 participants, will have equal vote with the cardinals. The pope is encouraging a collegial, communal approach, rather than the top-down authoritarian method followed in the past. They have even installed round tables to make the participants talk with each other in small groups. How up to date!

In the run up to the meeting, a group of five highly conservative cardinals asked the pope to comment on certain issues important to them. Pope Francis responded in a letter to the five on 11 July that has since been released to the public. The five were trying to box the pope into reiterating the traditional stands on sexuality and on gender. He did not fall for the trap.

Actually, the ploy backfired on the conservatives as the pope opened the door for reconsideration of three important issues. One was on the blessings of same-sex unions. A second was on the ordination of women. Then, buried in the text was one line that apparently slipped under the radar of most readers:

"No one can publicly contradict it [women's ordination] and nevertheless it can be the object of study, as in the case of the validity of ordinations in the Anglican Communion." (Find the letter HERE . See p. 5)

What? The pope says the question of Anglican orders can be reexamined? This has the potential of being a huge turning point for the entire Christian church.

In 1896, Pope Leo XIII directed that Anglican orders were "null and void." This has been the official Vatican position ever since.

The recent Ordinariate movement kept this attitude. Anglican clergy adhering to Rome must go through Confirmation and ordination since the Vatican does not recognize the validity of Anglican ordinations, and therefore the sacraments they may perform. 

So, the five cardinals gave the pope a large platform to declare open three issues that they absolutely and flatly oppose: same-sex blessings, women's ordinations, and acceptance of Anglican orders. Now, what roles these three will play in the present synod remains to be seen but one may safely assume they will be discussed even if it is private and not released to the public. Of course, approval of Anglican ordinations would give de facto acceptance to women's ordination and same-sex marriage.

Conservative Catholics have long viewed Francis with a dim and suspicious eye. They want an absolute and fixed continuation of traditional Catholic stands. They are "strict constructionists." Francis favors a "loose construction" to make the ancient institution more responsive to the needs of an evolving world. This is a tall order.

So, in a way, the Roman church is having its own version of a culture war, certainly defined by the parameters of that crusty old top-heavy institution. The conservatives are the Verticalists and the pope and his allies are the Horizontalists. So, American Episcopalians need not think their institution is the only one embroiled in the culture war of the contemporary age. The biggest institutional religion on the globe is wrestling with it too.

It is too soon to tell where all of this is going for the RC church. The pope is 86 years old and rather feeble. He often uses a wheel chair. One might assume the conservatives are biding their time for the day that cannot be too far off when a new pontiff will be elected by the cardinals. By that point, perhaps the consensus will be to retreat into traditionalism and Francis's work will fade into the past. On the other hand, the consensus might be to follow in Francis's path.

Still, it must be pointed out that the pope has raised the issue of reconsidering the Vatican's stand on Anglican ordinations. We will just have to wait and see how the synod responds to this, as well as the other two controversial issues. Meanwhile, Anglicans around the world should thank the pope for at least opening the possibility of reconsidering a position that has been a major stumbling block to the ecumenicism that is sorely needed in today's world.