Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, March 28, 2022. / Episkopat.pl.
Vatican City, Mar 28, 2022 / 08:30 am (CNA).
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference raised his concerns about the German “Synodal Way” during a meeting with Pope Francis on Monday.
The Polish bishops’ conference said in a statement after the March 28 audience that the pope distanced himself from the controversial multi-year process bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople.
“The Holy Father was also briefed on the difficulties caused for the universal Church by the issues raised — in the words of the pope — by the so-called German ‘synodal way,’” the statement said. “Francis distances himself from this initiative.”
The Vatican has not commented on the conversation and rarely addresses discussions during private papal audiences.
Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki publicly expressed his “fraternal concern” about the direction of the “Synodal Way” in a strongly worded letter to his German counterpart, Bishop Georg Bätzing, in February.
In the almost 3,000-word letter, the archbishop questioned whether the initiative was rooted in the Gospel.
The Nordic Catholic bishops have also publicly expressed alarm at the Synodal Way’s trajectory.
The meeting of the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference @Abp_Gadecki with the Holy Father Francis has begun. The topic of the meeting are current affairs of the Church in Poland, the war in #Ukraine and assistance to refugees. pic.twitter.com/1WPZ8W8fK4
Bishop Georg Bätzing said in a March 16 reply to Gądecki that he sought “a real theological exchange” about draft texts endorsed at a Synodal Way meeting in February.
Synodal Way participants voted in favor of documents calling for married priests in the Latin Church, the ordination of women priests, same-sex blessings, and changes to Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
In his letter to Gądecki, Bätzing defended the initiative, saying that it sought to reform the Church in Germany following a devastating abuse crisis.
The main topic of discussion during the 45-minute meeting between Gądecki and the pope was the refugee crisis following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, almost 2.3 million people had entered Poland from Ukraine as of March 27, around 60% of the total 3.9 million people who have fled Ukraine.
The archbishop of Poznań, western Poland, explained how Poland’s Catholics are making an unprecedented effort to support refugees, as well as sending aid to Ukraine.
The bishops’ conference said that Gądecki also outlined his steps “to intensify joint actions of Christians of different denominations for a just peace.”
The 72-year-old archbishop cited the joint message of bishops in Ukraine and Poland in January, his pre-invasion appeal to Orthodox and Catholic leaders in Russia and Ukraine, and his letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He told the pope that he planned to meet Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians, in the Polish capital Warsaw on March 29.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda is expected to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican later this week.
“The Holy Father expressed thanks for all the actions taken by the Church in Poland and assured of his spiritual support,” the Polish bishops’ conference said. “He asked the clergy and seminarians to remain close to the faith of the people of God. He also bestowed his apostolic blessing.”
Pope Francis sent a 19-page letter to German Catholics in June 2019, urging them to focus on evangelizing in the face of a “growing erosion and deterioration of faith.”
His most recent public comments about the Synodal Way came in September 2021, in an interview with the Spanish radio station COPE.
Asked if the initiative gave him sleepless nights, the pope recalled that he wrote an extensive letter that expressed “everything I feel about the German synod.”
Responding to the interviewer’s comment that the Church had faced similar challenges in the past, he said: “Yes, but I wouldn’t get too tragic either. There is no ill will in many bishops with whom I spoke.”
“It is a pastoral desire, but one that perhaps does not take into account some things that I explain in the letter that need to be taken into account.”
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The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona at the entrance of Greece. The three young people covered the distance from Paris to Jerusalem on foot, arriving in mid-May 2024. “I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem, but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. / Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Jerusalem, Jun 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
On Sept. 17, 2023, two sisters left Paris and walked for approximately eight months to Jerusalem. Madeleine and Marie-Liesse, 19 and 22, who grew up in a Catholic family, decided to become pilgrims to grow in their faith.
“We needed to make the faith our own,” they told CNA. “This pilgrimage was to discover God, to truly search for him and deepen our faith. We learned that we can trust God; he takes care of us in everything. The Gospel is not a joke.”
Two months later, in mid-November 2023, Louis Antona, 24, also left Paris on foot, bound for Jerusalem. The three young people met providentially in Albania, walked together through Turkey, then parted ways and reunited in Jerusalem. They shared the story of their pilgrimage with CNA.
“I needed to walk 4,500 kilometers to understand that Jesus is not just in Jerusalem but was by my side every step of the way,” Antona told CNA. He walked a total of 189 days and arrived in Jerusalem on May 18.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse — who asked that their last name not be used to protect their privacy — left from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in the center of Paris with the blessing of their parents and a priest.
“It was a calling from God,” Madeleine said of the decision she and her sister made to leave. “There’s no need for reasons when God calls; you simply need to follow what he tells you.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse during a moment of their journey, between Slovenia and Croatia. “The faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” they told CNA. The two sisters left Paris on September 17, 2023, and walked for about eight months to Jerusalem. Credit: Courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
The sisters created a simple blog to keep friends and family updated on their pilgrimage. The photos and brief stories reveal all the freshness of two young people on a journey while not hiding moments of doubt and difficulty.
“We chose to embark on this journey as beggars,” Marie-Liesse told CNA. “We left with just a few clothes and nothing else — no food, no money. We wanted to surrender ourselves into the hands of providence. Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided.”
Their days were marked by walking and prayer.
“We didn’t have a strict rule because we had to adapt every day to the people who hosted us, the place, and the situation,” Marie-Liesse explained. “But we had a framework: We knew we had to pray in the morning, at midday, at night… It was important for us to be faithful to God. Every day, we also recited a rosary, praying for the intentions entrusted to us.”
The most challenging moment was making the decision to continue the journey after hearing that war had broken out in the Holy Land. “We were in Germany and full of doubts about whether to go on.”
Their journey led them to cross Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. In Croatia, “the faith of the people struck us: during Advent, tradition dictates that Mass be attended every morning at 6, and every time we went, the church was packed with people,” the sisters wrote on their blog.
They stopped for a month in Medjugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where their family joined them for Christmas.
“It was a difficult time. Again, we didn’t know what to do. But after a period of discernment, we realized that Christ was calling us back on the road again,” Madeleine said.
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse crossed Montenegro and arrived in Albania, where they encountered Antona.
“I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” Antona told CNA. “I wasn’t sure what, but I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey. It was a challenge; I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy walking and being alone.”
Louis Antona, 24, during a moment of his journey. “I had just finished my studies and wanted to offer something to God,” he told CNA. “I thought that the best thing I had at that time was time itself. So, I decided to offer God a year of my life by embarking on a journey.” Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
Antona decided to leave, despite the war. “I believe the hardest part of a pilgrimage like this is deciding to start. I knew that if I gave up because of the war, I would never do it again. Anyway, I thought that by the time I arrived, the war would already be over.”
Madeleine and Marie-Liesse are filled with wonder at the manifestation of providence in every detail of their pilgrimage, in the beautiful weather and in the rain, in every small encounter — those who hosted them after seeing them at the bus stop, those who taught them how to make bread, the gentleman who opened his door just before a downpour. “If we had arrived a minute later, we wouldn’t have met him,” they said.
The encounter with Antona wasn’t coincidental either. The two sisters had prayed to God to give them a travel companion.
“We planned to not go through Turkey because we were two women alone, but we would have liked to go that way. So we asked God to meet one pilgrim, and we met him,” the sisters explained.
The three crossed Macedonia and Greece, arriving in Turkey on Palm Sunday. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse together with Louis Antona received a blessing from a priest during a Mass in Turkey. They arrived in Turkey on Palm Sunday 2024. In this predominantly Muslim country, they celebrated Easter, warmly welcomed by the small French-speaking community there. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
“Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” Antona said. “Every day we have met people who smiled or were nice to us. I have to say that in Turkey we found the most welcoming people.”
“It is not uncommon for the Turks to spontaneously lend us a hand,” Madeleine and Marie-Liesse wrote on their blog. “In Turkey, we encountered an infinite respect for passing strangers and for Christianity, even though Christians here are forced to protect themselves from regular attacks.”
The arrival of Madeleine and Marie-Liesse in Albania. In the photo, Marie-Liesse is in front of a statue of Mother Teresa, who was originally from this country. “Every evening, we knocked on people’s doors asking for shelter, a bed, and food. The Lord always provided,” they told CNA. Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Upon leaving Turkey, the paths of the three pilgrims split again. The sisters’ route went through Cyprus but they could not find a way from there to Jerusalem by sea due to suspension of transportation because of the war. Providentially, they met someone in Cyprus who offered to pay for airfare, and the sisters arrived in Tel Aviv on May 6. Three days later, on the feast of the Ascension, they were in Jerusalem.
“Many times, we thought we couldn’t reach Jerusalem,” Madeleine said. “We learned that the journey is even more important than reaching the goal. Being here is a great gift, just to be here.”
“We unpacked our bags once and for all, knelt before this Holy Land, and prayed. What peace, what a moment of grace! As we admired the sunrise and the golden light that brought color to the roofs of the old city, we could reread the wonders of God and meditate on the Gospels. His infinite love overwhelmed us,” the two sisters wrote on their blog.
The sisters Madeleine and Marie-Liesse received a blessing from a Franciscan friar at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher after their arrival in Jerusalem. “The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Madeleine has no doubts: “Prayer is what carried us. When you’re weak, that’s when you’re strongest because that’s when God can act in you; you don’t take up all the space. Trusting in God can be challenging, but when you understand that God only wants you to be happy and will give you everything you need, then you realize you have everything to be happy in this moment; you can trust him.”
Ten days later, on the eve of Pentecost, Antona also arrived in Jerusalem. “Even if I had to stop somewhere else, at least I would have aimed to reach Jerusalem. This is a very important city for Christians, but the journey you take to reach it is also very important.”
French pilgrim Louis Antona arrived in Jerusalem on May 18, at the vigil of Pentecost. “Every day of this pilgrimage was a miracle,” he said. Credit: Photo courtesy of Louis Antona
The three pilgrims are still in the Holy Land. They have had the opportunity to participate in various celebrations and to visit the holy places in addition to many other sites in the area.
“The greatest gift is to be here and understand what happened here, to see with our own eyes, to witness the actual places,” Madeleine said. “We were able to pause in every place, to pray and meditate in silence.”
A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but all three of the pilgrims agree that “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.”
The French pilgrims rest under the portico of the Church of the Beatitudes on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the photo is Louis Antona. A journey like this isn’t for everyone, but, the three young people said, “if God calls you, go in peace. If God helps you, everything becomes possible.” Credit: Photo courtesy of French pilgrims Madeleine and Marie-Liesse
Cardinal George Pell. / Credit: Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA
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A Mass said for the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage in Rome held Oct. 25, 2014. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
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1 Comment
We read: “Asked if the initiative gave him sleepless nights, the pope recalled that he wrote an extensive letter that expressed ‘everything I feel about the German synod.’”
And yet, Batzing remains undeterred, knowing (a) that as a member of the C-7 inner circle, his predecessor Cardinal Marx is in a position to throw his weight around; and (b) that Cardinal Hollerich, the appointed relator general for the 2023 Synod on Synodality, has already publicly outed himself as a puppet for the German “synodal way” (his announced support for female ordinations, and even for changing human/Catholic morality to support the homosexual lifestyle); and (c) that the papal ghostwriter (Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández) will likely find the right words to put in Hollerich’s mouth…
Fernandez does have the rare and valuable “ability to incorporate different viewpoints in drafting group statements” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Manuel_Fern%C3%A1ndez; scroll to “Relationship with Pope Francis”).
But, the manifest problem is that Germania does not traffic with simply “different viewpoints.” Instead, his contradictions–visible under the non-demonstrable first principle of non-contradiction–cannot be paraded as “viewpoints,” nor as a dance between mere “positions” and “counterpositions” which can be skillfully harmonized on a word processor.
No, the “feelings” expressed in Pope Francis’ earlier letter to the German hierarchy are more than feelings. Yes? Or, are we to believe that we now are being groomed toward a flat-world ethic of only what is “inadmissible” (capital punishment) and what can be skillfully harmonized and synodally “admissible”?
Small wonder that we have heard nothing in the past nine years of Veritatis Splendor–with its sound moral theology of the Church (!) and its moral absolutes–an encyclical which anticipated and answered in advance the oily logic of open-collar Batzing Inc. But, who am I to judge?
We read: “Asked if the initiative gave him sleepless nights, the pope recalled that he wrote an extensive letter that expressed ‘everything I feel about the German synod.’”
And yet, Batzing remains undeterred, knowing (a) that as a member of the C-7 inner circle, his predecessor Cardinal Marx is in a position to throw his weight around; and (b) that Cardinal Hollerich, the appointed relator general for the 2023 Synod on Synodality, has already publicly outed himself as a puppet for the German “synodal way” (his announced support for female ordinations, and even for changing human/Catholic morality to support the homosexual lifestyle); and (c) that the papal ghostwriter (Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández) will likely find the right words to put in Hollerich’s mouth…
Fernandez does have the rare and valuable “ability to incorporate different viewpoints in drafting group statements” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%ADctor_Manuel_Fern%C3%A1ndez; scroll to “Relationship with Pope Francis”).
But, the manifest problem is that Germania does not traffic with simply “different viewpoints.” Instead, his contradictions–visible under the non-demonstrable first principle of non-contradiction–cannot be paraded as “viewpoints,” nor as a dance between mere “positions” and “counterpositions” which can be skillfully harmonized on a word processor.
No, the “feelings” expressed in Pope Francis’ earlier letter to the German hierarchy are more than feelings. Yes? Or, are we to believe that we now are being groomed toward a flat-world ethic of only what is “inadmissible” (capital punishment) and what can be skillfully harmonized and synodally “admissible”?
Small wonder that we have heard nothing in the past nine years of Veritatis Splendor–with its sound moral theology of the Church (!) and its moral absolutes–an encyclical which anticipated and answered in advance the oily logic of open-collar Batzing Inc. But, who am I to judge?