By Charles Igwe
Pope Francis delivered a forceful speech at the Synod on Synodality, condemning clericalism and deeming it a “scandal,” with a specific reference to young priests purchasing ornate vestments at tailor shops.
Addressing an audience of numerous synod members on October 25, the Pope expressed his concern about clerics overstepping their roles, resulting in the Church being marred by “macho and dictatorial attitudes.”
The Pope lamented the patient endurance of the faithful, who face scorn, mistreatment, and marginalization due to institutionalized clericalism, a phenomenon he criticized as a “scandal.” He went on to remark, “It is enough to go into the ecclesiastical tailor shops in Rome to see the scandal of young priests trying on cassocks and hats, or albs and lace robes. Clericalism is a thorn. It is a scourge. It is a form of worldliness that defiles and damages the face of the Lord’s bride. It enslaves the holy, faithful people of God.”
This address occurred during the final week of the synod assembly, a month-long event where cardinals, bishops, priests, religious sisters, and laypeople shared their thoughts on “synodality” and their experiences within the Church.
Pope Francis chose to highlight one delegate’s intervention in his speech, that of Sister Liliana Franco, a Colombian religious sister who previously participated in the Amazon Synod. He commended the intuition of women who first approached Jesus’ empty tomb after the Resurrection, emphasizing the pivotal role of women in passing down the faith in a “feminine dialect.”
The bulk of the Pope’s speech centered on the issue of clericalism and worldliness, a topic that has been a focal point of the synod. During the initial week of the assembly, Pope Francis gifted each participant a book he had written titled “Holy, not Worldly: God’s Grace Saves us from Interior Corruption.” This book is a compilation of a text previously published by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio during his tenure as archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2005, titled “Corruption and Sin,” and a strongly worded letter Pope Francis addressed to all priests in the diocese of Rome on August 5.
The Pope criticized the worldliness that has crept into discussions within the Church, such as referring to bishops as “princes of the Church” and discussing episcopal promotions in career-oriented terms. He expressed his dismay at the existence of parish offices offering a “price list” for sacramental services, likening them to a “supermarket of salvation” where priests are reduced to “mere employees of a multinational company.” Pope Francis concluded that the Church should either be seen as the faithful people of God, holy yet flawed and on a spiritual journey, or risk becoming a business providing an array of services.
