Editor’s note: This interview was conducted in March, prior to the death of Pope Francis.
A new book from Cardinal Marc Ouellet entitled Word, Sacrament, Charism: The Risks and Opportunities of a Synodal Church (Ignatius Press, 2025), is an important contribution to the current conversation around synodality in the Church.
A native of Quebec, Canada, Cardinal Ouellet has served as a philosophy professor in several different countries, seminary rector, theology professor, diocesan archbishop, and curial official at the Vatican, including as Prefect of the then-Congregation for Bishops. He is a member of the Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice, or Sulpicians.
In Word, Sacrament, Charism, Cardinal Ouellet asks what the goals of synodality are: is it a Church of mission or of confusion? There is much talk these days of a revolution in the Church as a result of synodality, while others fear a schism. Cardinal Ouellet argues that a lack of theological reflection has marred the synodal process. Such reflection is needed in order to prevent the Church from being divided into ideological struggles that hamper evangelistic efforts.
Cardinal Ouellet recently spoke with Catholic World Report about his new book, the controversial issue of synodality, and hope for the future of the Church.
Catholic World Report: How did this book come about?
Cardinal Marc Ouellet: This book reports on my reflections on the synodal search, which contains ambiguities that can be seen in the huge consultation carried out between 2021 and 2024: on the one hand, a tendency towards democratism that is not in line with Catholic ecclesiology, and on the other, under the pretext of this danger, a refusal to commit to this necessary and salutary process for the Church’s mission.
CWR: Some people say that the concept of “synodality” is novel and has no basis in the Church’s tradition. Is this a fair assessment? How would you respond to that?
Cardinal Ouellet: Synodality has been part of the life of the Church from the very beginning. We need only think of the first Council of Jerusalem (cf. Acts 15), the tradition of Councils and Synods, the way the Eastern Churches have always functioned, and the decisions of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council concerning the creation of diocesan and parish pastoral councils to ensure the participation of the faithful in the organisation of the life and pastoral care of Christian communities.
CWR: There are also some who seem to see synodality as a method for introducing novelties, such as an attempt at a female diaconate, women priests, liturgical improvisations, etc. Is this the purpose of synodality?
Cardinal Ouellet: During the last session of the Synod in October 2024, the controversial issues were removed from the discussion because they belonged to other forums; it was necessary to concentrate on the central ecclesiological theme: synodality, i.e. the participation of all, each according to his charism, in the communion and mission of the community, including participation in decision-making processes in ways that respect the competence of each.
CWR: Is synodality simply something for the ministerial, hierarchical Church, or does it indeed involve the laity as well?
Cardinal Ouellet: The synodal spirit aims to reawaken the mission of all the baptised, especially the laity, so that the whole community feels responsible for the Church’s witness in society.
We need to overcome the mentality that priests are in charge and the faithful passively follow without expressing their right to speak and advise on the organisation of the Christian community and its mission. How many lay people are truly aware that they have a mission to fulfill in society?
CWR: If it involves the laity, is this the same as some sort of “belief by popular vote”?
Cardinal Ouellet: The Church’s doctrinal and disciplinary issues are the responsibility of the competent authorities, who must, however, listen to the faith of the people of God. Such listening presupposes structures for dialogue that enable the faithful to make their voices heard by the pastors and to contribute points of view that only they know through their experience of faith, life, work, and leisure.
CWR: Is there an evangelistic element to synodality, or is it purely inward-looking, inter-ecclesial?
Cardinal Ouellet: The whole impetus given by Pope Francis to the synod is aimed at mission, witness, and the proclamation of the Gospel to the world. It’s a call for greater participation by the faithful, to intensify communion between all members of the community and make them more united in pastoral, charitable, and missionary action. Caring for the quality of relationships in the Church sends a message of hope to the world.
CWR: Is synodality, rightly considered, a way to reconcile different “camps” within the Church? Left vs. right? Etc.?
Cardinal Ouellet: It should help to reconcile opposing camps, because dialogue helps us to understand, respect, and help each other to give the world a witness of unity. The Church counts among its members people of different religious and social sensibilities, but these differences are minor compared to the unity of faith and charity among all. If we forget this, the logic of the world prevails over that of the Gospel.
CWR: Now that the 2024 synod has concluded, are there any other insights you’ve had into the synodal process, and the “risks and opportunities” (as the book’s subtitle puts it) that were not included in the book?
Cardinal Ouellet: I personally feel that the process has been positive and that the Pope has done well to approve the recommendations and to encourage the whole Church to implement the concrete suggestions. His encyclical on the Sacred Heart is the best message he could have left us in closing, because it gives us a spiritual inspiration to live out fraternity and solidarity in the Church. I would have liked the charismatic dimension of the Church to have been recognised more explicitly by the synodal assembly. For example, it seems to me that the affirmation of the place and dynamism of consecrated life in the Church’s mission is lacking.
My book aims to help correct this shortcoming in Catholic ecclesiology, which I believe is a major key to the success of a synodal Church.
CWR: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
Cardinal Ouellet: I hope that readers will be convinced that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church towards the Kingdom, and that they will perhaps discover that they themselves are bearers of talents and charisms that could further build up their community of belonging and mission.
CWR: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Cardinal Ouellet: Many thanks to Ignatius Press for welcoming this book and for its spirit of service to Catholic thought.
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“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (Fr. Roscia, C.S.B.;)
Early Synods were contained in terms of members, bishops, and subjects. Synodality instead is likened to Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, which continues ad random.
Cdl Ouellet makes essential criticisms of the Synodality process, its lacking theological reflections. Left to itself it becomes a platform for radical change.
“It should help to reconcile opposing camps, because dialogue helps us to understand, respect, and help each other to give the world a witness of unity. “
By opposing camps, no doubt there is no “witness of Unity”, between those who affirm that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage and thus affirm the Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life from the moment of conception until natural death, and the Sanctity and Dignity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and those who deny God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity , Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Is The Author Of Love , Of Life, And of Marriage, because they desire to render onto Caesar or themselves, what has always and will always belong to God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost. We, who have been Baptized Catholic, and are Faithful to Christ and His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, are already converted, and the counterfeit church, whose motto is let us dialogue with The Word Of God in the hope that we can transform He Who Is Perfect Eternal Divine Love Incarnate, no longer being Clothed With The Word Of God, have proven themselves to be quite naked.
Let the counterfeit synod church, who claim “if there is a union of a private nature, there is neither a third party, nor is society affected”, in order to justify the sin of abortion, and the sin that denies God’s teaching on sexual morality, while denying our Call to be Temples Of The Holy Ghost, or “the personally opposed but I must respect your non existent right to deny the inherent Sanctity and Dignity of all Human Life” group, be charitably anathema for the sake of Christ, His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, all who will come to believe, and the multitude of prodigal sons and daughters , who hopefully , will soon return to The One Body of Christ, which exists, “Through Him, With Him, And In Him, Oh God, Almighty Father, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, outside of which, there is no Salvation.
“No one can come to My Father, except Through Me.”- Jesus The Christ
“Penance, Penance, Penance”
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
A welcome book from a credible papabili, and yet there’s also this time-tested adage about dialogue: “the fireman does not negotiate with the fire.”
How to contain a synodal listening “style” from displacing Cardinal Ouillet’s perennial structure of the Church? What does the conclave have to say about der Synodale Weg’s new guidelines on how to openly impose Fiducia Supplicans? And, what will the 2028 “Ecclesial Assembly” do with the continuously resuscitated “hot button issues” deflected from the synod into a dozen or so “expert” Study Groups?
The barn door is open…
Let’s all synodal our way back to the Catholic faith.
No, the synod ideology is a fraud.
Faith means faith in Christ, NOT in the self-serving bureaucracies seeking to live as parasites inside the Body of Christ.
Freemasonry is unraveling faster than it could have expected since it confidently always believed in its own hubris. It has resolved that it needs a symbiosis with the Church in order to carry over into where it can a) regroup and b) dominate.
Inside Freemasonry is Zionism, the English Monarch and Rosicrucianism trying to attain their imagined 1000th year triumph, even as these are at their weakest and can’t solidly realistically count past 500 years.
Some Islamics are mixed into Freemasonry; however Islam which precedes Freemasonry by a long time does not factor into the “triumph of 1000 years” and is witness to Freemasons’ lies of “Anno Lucis” 6025 years existence.