Cardinal Joseph Zen delivered a harsh criticism of what he called “the Bergoglian Synodality,” during the Jan. 7–8 Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals.
The full text of his remarks was published on Friday, Jan 9 by the blog College of Cardinals Report.
Speaking behind closed doors before Pope Leo XIV and roughly 170 cardinals, the 93-year-old bishop emeritus of Hong Kong delivered a blistering critique of the Synod on Synodality, denouncing its procedures as an “ironclad manipulation” and warning that repeated appeals to the Holy Spirit to justify the process are “ridiculous” and verge on “blasphemy.”
According to the text published by College of Cardinals Report, Cardinal Zen used his allotted three minutes to address the Accompanying Note issued by Pope Francis alongside the Synod’s Final Document, which concluded a three-year process (2021–2024).
At the heart of Cardinal Zen’s intervention is a direct challenge to the claim that the synodal process reflected genuine listening and episcopal discernment. He posed a series of blunt questions: whether Pope Francis could truly claim to have listened to “the entire People of God”; whether the lay participants actually represented that people; and whether bishops were allowed to engage in real discernment, something he insisted necessarily involves “disputation” and “judgment.”
For Cardinal Zen, the answer was no. He argued that the process was so tightly managed that it deprived bishops of their rightful authority as successors of the apostles, according to the College of Cardinals Report. The constant invocation of the Holy Spirit, he warned, functioned as a rhetorical shield for predetermined outcomes, implicitly suggesting that the Spirit might contradict what He has inspired in the Church’s two-thousand-year Tradition.
The Chinese cardinal was particularly critical of what he described as a “theological and canonical contradiction” at the core of the Final Document. While Pope Francis affirmed that the document is an act of Magisterium that “commits the Churches” to act in accordance with it, he simultaneously insisted that it is “not strictly normative” and allows for diverse local interpretations. Cardinal Zen argued that this paradox invites confusion, doctrinal incoherence, and ultimately fragmentation within the Church.
He also questioned whether new pastoral “experiments,” such as the “creative activation of new forms of ministeriality,” would ultimately be judged by synodal secretariats or Roman dicasteries rather than by bishops themselves.
Cardinal Zen cautioned that this approach risks leading the Catholic Church down the same path of internal fracture experienced by the Anglican Communion.
The Cardinal also raised serious ecumenical concerns, particularly regarding relations with the Orthodox Churches. He argued that Orthodox bishops will never accept what he termed “Bergoglian synodality,” emphasizing that in the Orthodox understanding, synodality means the real authority of bishops acting together. By contrast, he said, Pope Francis has “exploited” the word synod while effectively hollowing out the Synod of Bishops established by Paul VI.
Notably, Cardinal Zen’s intervention came after he had a private audience with Pope Leo XIV shortly before the consistory, underscoring both the sensitivity of the moment and the gravity of the concerns raised.
The post During Consistory, Cardinal Zen delivers harsh criticism of the ‘Synodal Way’ appeared first on CatholicVote org.