Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, hopes the legacy of the Synod on Synodality launched by Pope Francis will be the renewal of the Catholic Church as the people of God who walks together to “better carry out the mission that Christ entrusted us” in modern-day society.
“The central insight of Vatican II is that we are all enjoying equal dignity as Christians by our baptism,” the Canadian cardinal shared with EWTN News hosts Catherine Hadro and Matthew Bunson.
“It is as the people of God that we walk together — who are ordained, or in authority, or both — are at the service of God’s people,” he elaborated. “This kind of service needs to be refreshed and, in a certain sense, brought up to date.”
To “more effectively, more flexibly, [and] more generously” respond to the “great hunger and thirst” of people, Czerny stated that synodality is intended to confirm the authority and tradition of the Catholic Church.
“If you want to sum up the synod, we are seeking ways and means to assure that kind of authority so that the Church will be able to carry out its mission and not be handicapped or distracted by sins and mistakes which, in fact, consume and eradicate authority,” he told EWTN News.
Focusing on the servant leadership of Jesus Christ, Czerny stated that he and other ordained leaders in the Church — particularly the new cardinals-elect — have to recognize their explicit mission and role to support the Holy Father and of “giving our lives” to serve the Catholic faithful.
On the topic of the participation of women in the Church, the cardinal said the different ministries of women can be better “integrated” within Church structures so as to provide better “recognition, authority, formation, [and] recompense” for the work they carry out at the service of God and others.
In spite of the “enormous challenges of our times” — such as forced migration or conflict — Czerny said many of the Catholic faithful living on the margins or peripheries are witnesses of a “hopeful Church” and are therefore an example for others.
“Migrants are not only our deep concern in terms of solidarity and support and evangelization. But they’re also a sign of the mobility and the courage that the Church needs,” Czerny said.
“They’re not lacking in hope, they’re not lacking in resourcefulness, and they’re not lacking in missionary creativity. So I would say, as much as they win our concern and sympathy, they also win our admiration,” he added, according to a Catholic News Agency report.
According to the prelate, the impact and legacy of synodality will go beyond the Catholic Church and reach out to the secular world.
“I think many of us are recognizing, experiencing that synodality would go a long way to helping make this world more peaceful, more human, more just, and finally more Christian,” he said.
“That encourages us. We’re not just doing intra-Church housekeeping. We are actually preparing effective and important proposals for the world community.”
