More Synodality (Cringe)! Pope Francis’ 3-Year Plan To Revolutionize the Church

I watched whilst "synodality" destroyed the Anglican Communion. I then became Orthodox on my journey to Rome and saw the damage synodality had done to Orthodoxy. I thought I was safe, once I'd swum the Tiber!

From The Remnant

By David L.Vise

 

Joshua McElwee with Reuters informed us on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in his article "Pope Francis, showing plans to stay on, starts new Catholic reform process," that the hospitalized Pope has approved a new three-year process to consider reforms for the global Catholic Church. This latest initiative, purportedly intended to facilitate dialogue and renewal, is yet another attempt to justify sweeping changes under the pretense that the "people of God" demand them. Such a claim neglects the fundamental truth that the Church is not a democracy, but a divine institution charged with safeguarding the Deposit of Faith, not bending it to popular sentiment.

This effort by Pope Francis mirrors the disastrous path taken by the Second Vatican Council under the banner of "aggiornamento," or bringing the Church up to date. Vatican II, filled with ambiguous and modernist statements, sought to make the Church more relevant to contemporary society. Instead of renewal, the Church has suffered six decades of decline, marked by a catastrophic decrease in priestly vocations, the near extinction of religious orders, and a widespread crisis in catechesis. The once-flourishing Catholic institutions have crumbled, and the faithful have left in droves, confused by a doctrine watered down to accommodate the spirit of the age rather than uphold the truth revealed by Christ.

Pope Francis now follows in the footsteps of this failed experiment, using synodal processes to manufacture a justification for further revolution. The Synodal Way, much like Vatican II’s pastoral double-speak, seeks to create an illusion of consensus while implementing predetermined changes that undermine the very fabric of Catholic doctrine. The ambiguity that characterized Vatican II’s documents has allowed for endless reinterpretations, leading to the erosion of traditional faith and practice. In the same way, Pope Francis' latest initiative will not lead to genuine renewal but rather accelerate the destruction of what remains of the Church’s sacred identity.

The Church was not established to be governed by popular opinion. Our Lord Himself declared to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The Church’s authority rests upon divine mandate, not shifting cultural trends. Saint Thomas Aquinas warned against abandoning tradition in favor of novel ideologies, stating in the Summa Theologica, In his I answer that, “The articles of faith stand in the same relation to the doctrine of faith, as self-evident principles to a teaching based on natural reason. Among these principles there is a certain order, so that some are contained implicitly in others; thus, all principles are reduced, as to their first principle, to this one: "The same thing cannot be affirmed and denied at the same time,"” (Summa Theologica II-II, q. 1, a. 7). Vatican II’s failure to heed this wisdom has led to decades of doctrinal confusion and spiritual decay, and Pope Francis' renewed efforts will only deepen the crisis.

By promoting a process that elevates collective discernment over authoritative teaching, Pope Francis endangers the very integrity of the Church. His well-known phrase, "Who am I to judge?" has been weaponized to suggest that moral truth is malleable rather than absolute. However, Saint Paul explicitly warns against such moral relativism: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (2 Timothy 4:3). The true role of the Church is not to adapt doctrine to popular demand but to guard the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms this duty: "The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church" (CCC 85). Pope Francis’ synodal process undermines this magisterial authority, replacing it with a democratized theology rooted in subjective experience rather than divine truth.

Vatican II was heralded as the great turning point in the Church’s history, yet six decades later, its fruits are overwhelmingly bitter. The number of priests has dwindled, seminaries have closed, and entire religious communities have disappeared. Rather than a renewal of faith, we have seen confusion, laxity, and an exodus of believers. Pope Francis' initiative will not rectify these failures but complete the decimation of the Church that Christ founded. The same deceptive language of "listening to the people" will be used to push further deviations from Catholic teaching, just as Vatican II’s ambiguous rhetoric opened the door to modernist distortions.

The Church does not exist to conform to the world but to call the world to conversion. Let us, therefore, resist the temptation to prioritize consensus over truth, remembering the words of our Lord: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). The faithful must remain vigilant and steadfast, clinging to the eternal truths handed down by Christ and His Apostles. History has already demonstrated that experiments like Vatican II lead only to ruin. If Pope Francis’ revolution is allowed to continue unchecked, it will only hasten the Church’s decline rather than restore her to the glory that once was.