Pope Francis, the Synod, and the Sacred Heart

Two U.S. Cardinals, McElroy of San Diego and Cupich of Chicago have announced that they intend to move forward in “reforming the structure of the U.S. Church in line with synodality”.

From Rorate Cæli

By Roberto de Mattei

The Synod that closed on Oct. 27 at the Vatican seemed like an attempt by Pope Francis to put out the fire set by the German bishops with their “synodal way” launched in January 2020. The ambitious goal that the progressive bishops, not only the German ones, set for themselves was to take a decisive step forward from the 2019 Pan-Amazonian Synod in 2024, achieving the diaconal ordination of women, the marriage -- under certain conditions -- of priests, the implementation of the LGBT agenda, and the granting of doctrinal authority to bishops' conferences. None of this is present in the Final Document approved on Oct. 26. A document that displeased everyone and caused Vaticanist Andrea Gagliarducci to write that “there are neither winners nor losers” (“Aci Stampa,” Oct. 26, 2024).

But will the Synod Document really put out the fire or rather fuel it? Pope Francis gave up on a post-synodal exhortation, saying he wanted to “deliver the final document to God's holy faithful people.” “In the document ,” he added, ” there are already very concrete indications that can be a guide for the mission of the churches, in different continents, in different contexts. (...) The synodal church for mission now needs the shared words to be accompanied by deeds. And this is the way.”

So the synod is closed but the synod process continues. It is logical to imagine that the ultra-progressive wing of the Church feels invested with the task of accomplishing the synod's verbal openings in practice, not least because Francis is in fact leaving it up to the bishops to interpret the document freely. Already two U.S. cardinal-archbishops, Robert McElroy of San Diego and Blaise Cupich of Chicago, as Michael Haynes informs us in “LifeSiteNews” on Oct. 28, have announced that they intend to move forward in “reforming the structure of the U.S. Church in line with synodality,” but what synodality is no one has figured out so far. The Final Document reaffirms that, “synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church” (No. 28), but also states that “the decision-making competence of the Bishop of Rome is unalienable” (No. 92) and that “the Bishop of Rome, the principle and foundation of unity of the Church (cf. LG 23), is the guarantor of synodality” (No. 131).

Professor Alberto Melloni, who is one of the deepest connoisseurs of the progressive world, to which he belongs, does not hide his disappointment that the synod was not a Vatican III. “The double Bergoglian synod could have, should have been the fall point of the doctrinal turning point,” imprinted on the church by Vatican II and instead, "sunsets without trauma and without fruit.” For Melloni, “a vertical, dramatic crisis with sixteenth-century sounds and unpredictably tragic consequences” could open up (“Corriere della Sera,” Oct. 23, 2024).

Melloni does not explain what this dramatic scenario might be. It is unclear whether the “vertical crisis” to which he alludes concerns the relationship between the Church's top leadership and the grassroots, or whether he refers rather to an internal fracture within the episcopate. The revolutionary process, in any case, slows down but does not stop. Alongside the fire that the Synod's final document tries in vain to extinguish, however, there is another fire: that of divine Love, which has its symbol in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “furnace of burning charity.” And it is precisely to the worship of the Sacred Heart that Pope Francis dedicated his fourth encyclical, Dilexit nos, published Oct. 24, three days before the conclusion of the synodal assembly.

The Catholic theology of the Sacred Heart was magnificently expounded by Leo XIII in his encyclical Annum Sacrum, dated May 25, 1889, by Pius XI in his encyclical Miserentissimus redemptor , dated May 8, 1928, and by Pius XII in his encyclical Haurietis Aquas , dated May 15, 1956. Pope Francis explicitly refers to the Magisterium of these Popes: “Some of my predecessors have referred to the Heart of Christ and in very different expressions have invited us to unite ourselves to Him. At the end of the nineteenth century, Leo XIII invited us to consecrate ourselves to Him, and in his proposal he combined both an invitation to union with Christ and admiration for the splendor of His infinite love. About thirty years later, Pius XI presented this devotion as a compendium of the Christian faith experience. Moreover, Pius XII affirmed that the worship of the Sacred Heart expresses in an excellent way, as a sublime synthesis, our worship of Jesus Christ” (no. 79).

Francis repeats with Pius XII, that “devotion to the Heart of Christ is essential to our Christian life (...) so much so that we can affirm once again that the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of the Gospel” (no. 83) and builds on Pius XI's theological concept of reparation for the sins of the world (nos. 153-156), “inasmuch as the sins and crimes of men, at whatever time committed, were the cause for which the Son of God was given to death” (no. 155). This is followed by lengthy quotations from great saints, such as St. Francis de Sales (nos. 114-118), St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (nos. 119-124), St. Claudius de la Colombière (nos. 125-128), St. Charles Foucauld (nos. 130-132), and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (nos. 133-142).

Francis concludes, “From the wound of Christ's side continues to flow that river which never runs out, which does not pass away, which always offers itself anew to those who want to love. Only his love will make possible a new humanity” (no. 219).

The final document of the Synod and the encyclical Dilexit nos seem to come from two different planets, but contradiction has been and remains the hallmark of this pontificate. It would be a futile exercise to look for good in the Synod Document or bad in the papal encyclical. How should the Catholic adjust when faced with two such contrasting documents? Common sense suggests this:

• Ignore the Synod's Final Document, which moreover has no normative value. Reading it can only confuse the ideas of the all too bewildered faithful.

• Respond positively to the call to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the practices that Francis recommends. “The proposal of Eucharistic Communion on the first Friday of each month, even today, would do much good, because in the midst of the whirlwind of today's world and our obsession with leisure, consumption and entertainment, cell phones and social media, we forget to nourish our lives with the power of the Eucharist” (No. 84). "Likewise, no one should feel obliged to have an hour of adoration on Thursdays. But how can we not recommend it? When someone lives this practice with fervor together with so many brothers and sisters and finds in the Eucharist all the love of the Heart of Christ, 'he adores together with the Church the symbol and almost the vestige of divine Charity, which has gone so far as to love even with the Heart of the Incarnate Word the human race' “ (no. 85).




Remember that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is inseparable from devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which Our Lady herself recommended at Fatima. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam of Oct. 11, 1954, in which Pius XII extended the cult of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the whole Church, ordering that the consecration of mankind to the Immaculate Heart of Mary be renewed every year.

 Our Lady, on Dec. 10, 1925, showing Sister Lucy her Heart crowned with thorns, with no one doing anything to make reparation for sins asked to be consoled through the devotion of the first Saturdays of the month. The “devotion of consolation” is one of the cornerstones of Pope Francis' encyclical, which calls for “recovering this expression of the spiritual experience developed around the Heart of Christ: the inner desire to give Him consolation” (No. 152).

To those who practice this devotion, through the First Fridays and Saturdays of the month, Our Lady assures the grace of ultimate perseverance. A most precious grace in the times of confusion we go through.