If canon law offers ample space for lay Catholics to wield influence, telling bishops how to run their dioceses is more complicated. “A bishop is going to interpret and implement his role in a way that he best understands it,” Euart said.
The synod report suggested that injecting synodality into the church should go all the way to the papacy. The code of canon law might “offer dispositions for a more collegial exercise of the papal ministry,” the report said.
Despite his reputation as a reformer who listens to the furthest corners of the church, Francis has not been afraid to use his own authority, issuing 48 papal decrees, more than any of his predecessors, as well as a wide array of letters, bulls and documents.
He has also weakened the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and considerably marginalized the notoriously bureaucratic Roman Curia. Even the massive consultations of the Synod on Synodality will eventually submit to the will of the pope, which can only be tempered by the college of cardinals.
But Euart said that Francis has used his authority most in regard to the direction of the church’s place in the world. “It seems to me that Francis leans more toward authority as being related to mission,” she said. He has shown more latitude when it comes to appointing managers of the church.
There are only four canons relating to the pope, which describe his authority as “full and supreme,” Euart pointed out. But canon law also states that the pope can be assisted by the synod, cardinals and “other persons.”
Francis created a council of cardinals, known as the C9, to advise him in his ministry, and Boni said he could also create other advisory bodies. “One could perhaps think of including members who are not exclusively nominated by the pope or other top-level officials in many of these consultative and advising bodies,” Boni said.
The push for a decentralized church under the guise of synodality has opened the door to these possibilities, as well as other new scenarios.
“As the church becomes more synodal around the globe, my belief is that subsidiary institutions will begin to exercise decision making in a way that deepens participation in the life of the church and communion as the holy faithful people of God,” Daniels, from Georgetown, said.
One of any pope’s greatest powers in shaping the church is the selection of the bishops, but the synod participants even suggested that lay people be included in the vetting, if not the choosing, of possible bishops. Canon law already allows for lay people of “outstanding wisdom” to advise the papal nuncio, the pope’s representative in each country who is charged with bringing candidates before the pope.
“If the consultation on a particular candidate for appointment as bishop is open, honest and broad, the selection process would hopefully result in the nomination of a person with the qualities that could ensure that the exercise of authority is pastoral,” Euart said.
