The Vatican press office published a list on Friday of 363 delegates from around the world who will participate in the Synod on Synodality this October at the Vatican.
It appears that Pope Francis has decided to counterweight the original US delegation of bishops with several other American prelates.
Most delegates at the Synod are suggested by their bishops’ conference or attend “ex officio;” meaning they attend as a result of their status or a position they hold. Examples include prefects of Vatican dicasteries and presidents of religious federations. But Pope Francis personally chose many of the delegates, including cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay persons.
The original delegation of bishops elected by the members of the US Bishops to attend the Synod are Archbishop Timothy Broglio, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York.
The additional prelates hand-picked by Pope Francis are Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, DC, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, and Fr. James Martin, the controversial founder of “Outreach,” an LGBTQ organization recently featured in an exposé by CatholicVote.
The first global meeting of the Synod on Synodality will take place at the Vatican from October 4 to 29.
In a statement, the LGBTQ organization New Way Ministries expressed hope because “Pope Francis’ appointment of several high-profile U.S. clerical leaders to participate in the Vatican’s October meeting of the global Synod signals that LGBTQ+ issues will be on the agenda.”
Cardinals Blase Cupich, Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy, Sean O’Malley, Joseph Tobin, as well as Archbishop Paul Etienne and Father James Martin have, in varying degrees, expressed openness to improve the church’s pastoral care for LGBTQ+ people. Father Martin, well-known for his LGBTQ+ ministry, is a clearly positive voice.
But the ministry also expressed its disappointment in the fact that openly LGBTQ+ people were not included as delegates.
“From the U.S. perspective,” the statement said, “a particular disappointment is the list of Synod participants put forward by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Archbishop Timothy Broglio (Military Ordinariate) Bishops Daniel Flores (Brownsville), Robert Barron (Winona-Rochester), Kevin Rhoades (Fort Wayne-South Bend), and Cardinal Timothy Dolan (New York), who all have made negative statements on LGBTQ+ issues.”
