“We have to continue to remind ourselves of the potential that humanity has to overcome the violence and the hatred that is just dividing us more and more,” Leo said in the interview. “We live in times when polarization seems to be one of the words of the day, but it’s not helping anybody. Or if it’s helping anyone, it’s very few when everyone else is suffering.”
The pope called synodality, whose roots are in the Latin American church, the “antidote” to the deep divisions in the church and society, describing it as “an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand.” He said that some church leaders feel “threatened” by synodality, because of what Leo called a mistaken understanding of their authority. He said a synodal church allows each member to play a role and contribute based on their respective vocations as bishop, priest, missionary, lay person or family member.
“It’s an attitude which I think can teach a lot to the world today,” Leo said. “I think this is a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges that we have in the world today. If we listen to the gospel, and if we reflect upon it together, and if we strive to walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today, there is a lot to be gained for us there.”
Leo said he hoped to continue the process of instilling synodality in the church to build a church that is both united within and engaged with the world. He clarified, as Francis had, that synodality is not synonymous with democracy, “which if we look at many countries around the world today, democracy is not necessarily a perfect solution to everything.”
