ITALY:Discussions at synod likely to focus on promotion of greater reading of Bible, writes Paddy Agnewin Rome
POPE BENEDICT XVI will tomorrow open what is arguably the world's most exclusive and least empowered talking shop.
When he celebrates Mass in the Roman Basilica of San Paolo Fuori Le Mura, he will mark the opening of the 12th Assembly General of the Synod of Bishops, meeting to discuss The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.
The synod is about as close as the Catholic Church gets to having a parliament, and while its exhaustive, complex and often too-subtle deliberations are rarely translated into "policy decisions", it represents a rare moment when senior priests from every corner of the universal church get together to chew the (theological or other) fat.
Hundreds of church officials will come together between tomorrow and October 26th for discussions that are likely to focus on the desirability of promoting greater biblical literacy.
To some extent, this synod might look like more of the same from Pope Benedict, ie a return to basics. Only yesterday, in an address to the Pontifical Institute For Studies on Marriage and the Family, the pope celebrated the "prophetic" qualities of Paul VI's 1968 Encyclical Humanae Vitae, saying: "To exclude the communicative dimension [of God's love] by an action that is intended to stop procreation is to deny the intimate truth of conjugal love, a love with which the divine gift is communicated."
In that sense, the pope would doubtless like the synod fathers to recall that Catholic teaching of the Bible falls somewhere halfway between the evangelical-style fundamentalism of various Protestant sects and the secular indifference of much of the rest of the world.
As the synod secretary general, Bishop Nikola Eterovic, pointed out when presenting the synod to the press in the Vatican yesterday, this synod is not intended as a forum for scriptural analysis. Rather, it has a fundamental pastoral urgency, and is about leading more Catholics to the Bible.
Vatican commentators say that one of Pope Benedict's fundamental convictions is that the New Testament offers the key to understanding the Old Testament and that, as a whole, the Bible necessarily leads to Christ. Furthermore, he is on record as saying that the simple experience of reading the Bible transcends scriptural "expertise", arguing that the Bible belongs to the people, not the scholars.
Whether the "people" will be much heard over the next three weeks is a moot point. What is certain is that many scholars will have their say, among them Rabbi Shear Yashyv Cohen of Haifa, Israel, one of the three "special guests", who on Monday will address the synod on just how Jews read and interpret the Torah.
A key ecumenical moment occurs when the pope and Orthodox Ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I celebrate Vespers in the Synod Hall on October 18th.
The fact that during the synod the pope is scheduled to preside over a commemorative Mass recalling the 50th anniversary of the death of the controversial Pope Pius 12th would suggest that political realities may raise their ugly heads and disturb the biblical studies.