- Carol Glatz (Vatican City, CNS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The supreme rule in the Catholic Church is love, which impels all the faithful to serve, not to judge, exclude or dominate others, Pope Leo XIV affirmed. \u00abNo one must impose his own ideas; we must all listen to one another. No one is excluded; we are all called to participate,\u00bb he said in his homily during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Oct. 26. \u00abNo one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and search for it together,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mass marked the closing of the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participation Bodies, held October 24-26. Nearly 2,000 members of synodal teams and bodies, such as presbyteral councils, pastoral councils and finance councils at diocesan, eparchial, national and regional levels, registered for the Jubilee events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Jubilee included workshops and other meetings to further strengthen the implementation phase of the final document of the Synod of Bishops 2021-2024 on synodality. \u00abWe must dream and build a more humble Church,\u00bb Pope Leo stated in his homily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It must be a Church that does not rise up \u00abtriumphant and inflated with pride, but bends down to wash the feet of humanity,\u00bb he said. It must be a Church that does not judge, he said, \u00abbut becomes a place of welcome for all; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains attentive to God so that it can listen equally to all.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By \u00abclothing ourselves with the sentiments of Christ, we expand the ecclesial space to be collegial and welcoming,\u00bb he said. This will enable us to live with confidence and a renewed spirit in the midst of the tensions that permeate the life of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00abWe must let the Spirit transform\u00bb the current tensions in the Church \u00abbetween unity and diversity, tradition and newness, authority and participation,\u00bb he said. \u00abIt is not a matter of resolving them by reducing one to the other, but of letting them be purified by the Spirit, so that they can be harmonized and oriented toward a common discernment,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing a synodal Church means recognizing that truth is not possessed, but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with love,\u201d he said. Synodal teams and participatory bodies, he said, must \u00abexpress what happens within the Church, where relationships do not respond to the logic of power but to that of love.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of following a \u00abworldly\u00bb logic, the Christian community focuses on \u00abthe spiritual life, which reveals to us that we are all children of God, brothers and sisters, called to serve one another,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00abThe supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve,\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that Jesus showed how he belongs \u201cto the humble\u201d and condemns the moralists in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, which was the Gospel reading of the day (Lk 18:9-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pharisee and the publican enter the temple to pray, the Pope said, but they are divided above all by the attitude of the Pharisee, who is \u00abobsessed with his own ego and, in this way, ends up centered on himself without having a relationship with either God or others.\u00bb \u00abThis can also happen in the Christian community,\u00bb he said. \u00abIt happens when the ego prevails over the collective, causing an individualism that prevents authentic and fraternal relationships.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt also happens when the claim to be better than others... creates division and turns the community into a place of judgment and exclusion; and when one uses one's role to exercise power, rather than to serve,\u201d the Pope said. The publican, on the other hand, recognized his sin, asked God for mercy and \u00abreturned home justified,\u00bb that is, forgiven and renewed by the encounter with God, according to the reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All in the Church must show the same humility, he said, recognizing that \u00abwe all need God and one another, which leads us to practice reciprocal love, listen to one another and enjoy walking together.\u00bb This is the nature and praxis of synodal teams and participatory bodies, he said, calling them \u00aban image of this Church that lives in communion.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet us commit ourselves to building a Church that is totally synodal, ministerial and attracted to Christ and, therefore, committed to serving the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pope Leo quoted the words of the late Italian Bishop Antonio Bello, who prayed for Mary's intercession to help the Church \u00abovercome internal divisions. Intervene when the demon of discord infiltrates its bosom. Extinguish the fire of factionalism. Reconcile mutual disputes. Calm their rivalries. To stop them when they decide to go their own way, neglecting the convergence in common projects\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n