Happy Friday friends,
The big story this week in the Church is the meeting currently happening in Rome, convened by Pope Leo to mark the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia.
We have some coverage of that, and we will obviously be sticking close to it as it carries on. But I was struck by a particular plea of the pope’s in his opening remarks on Wednesday. Leo asked “that we all preserve the discretion and confidentiality that this time of listening and discernment requires.”
Don’t talk to the press, in other words.
Now, this is far from a novel ask by a pope. Francis routinely made similar requests before the various synodal sessions he convened during his tenure — not to suggest that this meeting is a synod, etc. and I will talk more about that in a minute.
And to a great degree I sympathize with the pope(s). If you want people’s honest opinions on complicated issues, opinions which often require nuanced drawing out, it’s hard to get them if everyone is worried about being (or eager to be) soundbited.
But the thing about these meetings, with their round tables and break out sessions and small groups, is that what is discussed is highly cabined
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