Cardinal Hollerich: "Something needs to come out of the synod"

Leading European cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich spoke with La Croix International on the sidelines of the October 12-30 Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) general conference taking place in Bangkok that he attended as a fraternal delegate.

“Trust the bishops and be in dialogue with them. And the dialogue should be done from the heart,” said Cardinal Hollerich – the 64-year-old Jesuit who leads the Archdiocese of Luxembourg and is president of COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union).

La Croix International: Pope Francis has announced the the Roman phase of the synod on synodality will be prolonged over two years. As relator general of this synod, how do you understand this decision?

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich: I am very happy with the pope’s decision because it means we have time. We don't need to hurry because you can only do a discernment when you have time. And I think also that listening is always done in time.

Listening is not just a thing you do once and for all, but it is repeated listening and also rereading. The bishops can reread what their Churches have said, what the document for the assembly now says and then we have time to discern. We are not in a hurry. And so I feel very grateful for that decision of the pope.

Many people who have participated in the synodal process are anxious that while they have been listened to, nothing will happen. What would you tell them?

I also heard that. Let's say that anxiety was already present during the diocesan synodal process for many people. Many people were reluctant to speak because they have been asked and never has anything come out of it.

I feel the responsibility that something should come out of it. So at least in my diocese, I shall take it up. I have already now. I have asked the synodal team to give me some proposals for what things we can do in Luxembourg, and we shall do it.

What I learned myself personally is a kind of synodal conversion, that I cannot be bishop without my Church. I am part of this Church and that the Church belongs to me as I belong to the Church. So, I cannot not listen to the Church, and I want to take the responsibility to put things into practice.

What are your comments about Germany’s synodal path? 

That's a difficult question. I think you have to understand the German situation about the abuse crisis they had in Germany and also the fact that every diocese produces its own report with different methodologies. As a result, it is always in the press and the Church has to react. I think that the bishops wanted to react in a synodal way — I can understand that. But I feel very bad about bishops being divided.

Sometimes in the press you have a general condemnation of the German synodal way. I cannot do that. You are also to trust the bishops and be in dialogue with them. And the dialogue should be done from heart to heart, not through the media.

We always have to keep the unity, communion because there is a much bigger crisis. We have to speak about how faith can be lived normally in everyday life, in the secularized society, like the ones in Europe. That is a question we have to ask together.

I wonder if the German synodal way has come to the point of that discussion. The pope has spoken about mission, and without mission we are not the Church.

You are here in Bangkok for the FABC's summit. What can Asian Catholics offer to the Universal Church?

We can learn from the Church of Asia because the Church of Asia as a minority does not cut all the bonds with society to say ‘we have to create our own Christian society.’ They live a clear Christian identity in dialogue and especially today when people speak about harmony, we can learn from that. We have to live a clear Christian identity, also in Europe, but in dialogue with the secular society which surrounds us.

For us in Europe, it is very beautiful to see a Church as minority because in fact we are in the same situation. We just haven't acknowledged it. In the past it was different. But the Church in Europe is also a minority in a secularized environment.