Cardinal Grech at Katholikentag: ‘Questions should not discourage us'
Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, attended the 104th Katholikentag in Würzburg, Germany, as the highest‑ranking Vatican representative. He delivered a keynote on synodality and joined a panel discussion, stressing the Church’s openness to the Holy Spirit and the collaborative role of bishops and the Petrine ministry. Grech highlighted Pope Leo’s closeness and support, urging attendees to take courage and rise up. He toured local stands and initiatives, meeting participants before his public appearances.
5 months ago
Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod’s General Secretariat, attended the 104th Katholikentag in Würzburg, Germany, where he delivered a keynote on synodality, conveyed Pope Leo XIV’s blessing, and announced forthcoming guidelines for local Churches ahead of the 2028 synodal assembly. 1
Grech described synodality as a “symphony” in which every instrument—local bishops, the faithful, and the universal Church—has a legitimate role, but harmony is essential. 1
He stressed that genuine synodal decision‑making must arise from spiritual discernment, listening, and relationships, not from political maneuvering or simple majority votes. 1
The cardinal encouraged Catholics not to fear difficult questions, calling them opportunities to deepen understanding and translate synodality into everyday life. 1
He noted that differing views should become sources of mutual enrichment rather than conflict, and that the Church must remain open to the Holy Spirit’s action. 1
Grech relayed Pope Leo’s personal concern for the German Church, portraying the Pope as a “good father” who walks closely with bishops and the faithful. 1
He quoted the Pope’s imagined words: “Take courage, rise up!” emphasizing papal support for unity and communion. 1
Grech announced that the Synod Secretariat will soon publish guidelines to help each local Church implement the Synod’s final document at the grassroots level. 1
These guidelines will invite bishops’ conferences to share experiences, which will be examined at the 2028 assembly to seek collective answers. 1
The cardinal expressed confidence and hope, observing that the German Church is vibrant rather than “dead.” 1
He highlighted the need for strong spirituality to avoid advancing personal projects over the Lord’s will, echoing feedback from a participant at the event. 1*
Synodality must embrace questioning, not fear, to deepen faith
Synodality is not a strategy for “getting agreement”; it is a spiritual way of listening and discerning within the Church’s communion. In that sense, the claim that synodality must embrace questioning rather than fear is deeply consonant with how Pope Francis describes the synodal journey: encounter, listening, and discernment—without “soundproofing” the heart or hiding behind “usual excuses.”
Synodality is the Church’s “specific modus vivendi et operandi” (a concrete way of living and operating), oriented toward shared responsibility rooted in baptism. This helps explain why questioning belongs to synodality: if the Church is truly a people “journeying together,” then faith is not merely repeated; it is worked out in conversation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis repeatedly emphasizes that the synodal process is meant to be a real path—slow, sometimes tiring, and dependent on listening. He describes it as learning to listen “to the questions, concerns and hopes of every Church, people and nation,” and warns against closing down the heart.
So, synodality’s core is not fear-management; it is Spirit-led discernment: encounter people, listen to their words, and then allow the process to “change” the participants rather than leave everything “just as it was before.”
Pope Francis explicitly links synodal openness to a refusal of fear. When the synodal path begins, he asks whether the community embodies God’s style—God who travels with people and “listens to the questions and concerns lurking in their hearts.” He then challenges Christians who feel tempted to retreat into “the usual excuses: ‘It’s useless’ or ‘We’ve always done it this way’”—a fear-based posture that blocks real listening.
This is why “questioning” is not an enemy of faith in the synodal perspective. The Gospel pattern Pope Francis highlights is that Jesus encounters a person precisely because a crucial question is present, and then the Lord helps that person discern what must be done.
A further key theme is parrhesia—evangelical boldness “without fear and with freedom of heart.” Pope Leo XIV, drawing on Pope Francis, connects parrhesia to telling the whole truth consistently with the Gospel. In other words: synodal questioning is meant to be truthful and frank, not anxious or defensive.
A frequent misunderstanding is to treat questioning as if it automatically means dissent. Catholic teaching—and the Church’s own synodal language—does not support that reduction.
Pope Francis stresses that synodal practice is not gossip or formless agitation, and he explicitly states that he is not speaking in a way that derogates from bishops’ authority. Synodality is therefore not “fearless talking” without structure; it is a relationship-shaped exercise of authority and discernment in the Church’s communion.
He also sets a clear theological condition for any “collegial” and “synodal” exercise: it must “always respect the deposit of faith and the living Tradition,” and it must respond to what the Spirit asks “at this particular time and in the different contexts in which they live.” This is precisely where fear can sometimes arise—not just fear of disagreement, but fear that listening will blur doctrine or dissolve authority. The Church’s own framing avoids that false dilemma: questions are welcomed, but discernment is governed by faith and Tradition.
Finally, synodality also has to make room for the unity of the Church’s leadership. Dialogue on primacy and synodality shows they are not competing principles but “mutually constitutive and sustaining realities.” In the Church’s own self-understanding, the Petrine ministry is “intrinsic to the synodal dynamic,” alongside the communal (“all”) and collegial (“some”) dimensions. So questioning is not a bypass of authority; it occurs within an ordered communion.
Pope Francis describes synodality as requiring an interior transformation: “the synodal journey requires a spiritual conversion because without an interior transformation, lasting results cannot be achieved.”
That same address explains that the main element is not simply solving this or that issue, but the journey made together in synodality. Therefore, questioning deepens faith when it:
In fact, Pope Francis’s opening synodal homily presents encounter and listening as something that must avoid “artificial and shallow and pre-packaged responses,” insisting on the Spirit’s surprising guidance toward “fresh paths and new ways of speaking.” This is another way questioning deepens faith: it makes room for the Holy Spirit to correct, stretch, and clarify what people thought they already knew.
Synodality should embrace questioning not because questions replace faith, but because synodality is a Spirit-guided process of encounter, listening, and discernment that rejects fear-based retreat and aims at conversion within the Church’s communion—respecting the deposit of faith, the living Tradition, and the rightful exercise of authority.