The Ghost of Synods Past: The Extraordinary Synod of 1969

The First Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1967), held two years after Pope St. Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops, was a synod of consequence that still influences the Church today through the canonical legislation, liturgical books, and documents on marriage and priestly formation it helped shape.

The 1967 synod had at its primary theme the “preservation and strengthening of the Catholic faith, its integrity, its force, its development, its doctrinal and historical coherence.” Fissures at the synod over how best to address theological dissent helped set the stage for the events of 1968 and the synod of 1969.

Doctrine, the 1967 synod, and Humanae Vitae

Although in general Pope St. Paul VI supported more extensive liturgical changes than the synod fathers did, he was more concerned, overall, about doctrinal integrity than they were. In his opening homily at the 1967 synod, he warned of

insidious dangers which even from within the Church find utterance in the work of teachers and writers . frequently desirous rather of adapting the dogma of the faith to secular thought and language, than of adhering to the norm of the Church’s Magisterium. Thus they allow free rein to the opinion that one may forget the demands of orthodoxy and select from among the truths of the faith those which instinctive personal preference finds admissible, rejecting the others, as if the rights of moral conscience, free and responsible for its acts, may be claimed in preference to the rights of truth, foremost among which are the rights of divine revelation.

Signaling a strong desire to maintain fidelity to the Church’s doctrinal tradition, Pope Paul named Cardinal Michael Browne, O.P., remembered as “tradition’s voice at Vatican II,” as the relator of the synod’s doctrinal discussion. Cardinal Browne told the synod fathers that “the task of the Church” is “to see that the dangers and errors which threaten to corrupt the deposit of faith should be eradicated, and at the same time to promote deeper theological reflection and pastoral care in the way which Vatican Council II opened up.”

The majority of the synod fathers pushed back against Cardinal Browne’s call for the eradication of errors, instead requesting a “positive pastoral declaration concerning questions involved in the doctrinal crisis of today.” Pope Paul, in turn, issued the Credo of the People of God on June 30, 1968, in which he explicated the Creed while countering dissent from solemnly defined teaching on original sin and transubstantiation.

Less than four weeks later, on July 25, 1968, Pope Paul issued the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, subtitling it de propagatione humanae prolis recte ordinanda: on rightly ordering the propagation of human offspring.

“Between August and November 1968, most of the episcopal conferences reacted [to Humanae Vitae] in an ambiguous way,” Father Leo Alting von Geusau, founder of the Center for International Documentation on the Contemporary Church, recalled in a 1970 article. “Conferences in black Africa, the Philippines, as well as in Concordat countries such as Spain and Portugal, came out with favorable statements. Bishops behind the Iron Curtain, as well as conferences in some Asian countries such as India, Vietnam, and Korea, also announced support.”

“Reactions in western countries were different,” Alting von Geusau added, explaining:

The Dutch bishops were the first to react with a statement to their priests on August 4, 1968: “… The priests and the faithful have therefore to study the document carefully, giving, however, the last word to the individual conscience.” This became the pattern of reaction of the German, Belgian, Austrian, Canadian, Swiss, British, Irish, Indonesian, Australian, South African, Scandinavian, and the United States Catholic Conferences.

Announcement of the Synod

Against this backdrop, Pope Paul, on December 23, 1968, announced the First Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme of “Cooperation between the Holy See and the Episcopal Conferences.” The announcement took place during his pre-Christmas address to the Roman Curia and College of Cardinals.

“The care of God’s holy Church,” he added, “leads Us to trust ever more in the precious help and collaboration not only of the Sacred College and the bodies of Our Curia, but also, and now especially, of Our Brothers in the episcopate scattered throughout the world and committed to serving the various dioceses. We have studied various ways to increasingly ensure the contribution of their experience, counsel, and responsibility to this Apostolic See and to the entire Church.”

For this reason, he said, he was convoking an extraordinary synodal assembly:

To this end, We have decided to convene an extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops for next year, 1969, which will begin, God willing, on October 11. Its purpose will be to examine ways to ensure better cooperation and more fruitful contacts between the individual Episcopal Conferences with the Holy See and among themselves.

Episcopal conferences predated the Second Vatican Council, but Christus Dominus, the 1965 conciliar decree on the pastoral office of bishops, gave them greater emphasis in the life of the Church (36-38). In 1966, Paul VI required bishops to establish episcopal conferences where they did not yet exist (Ecclesiae Sanctae, 41).

In announcing the extraordinary synod during his pre-Christmas address, Paul VI also recalled the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on collegiality (Lumen Gentium, Chapter III and explanatory note; Christus Dominus, 3-4):

The importance we attach to this possibility of mutual assistance, based on the principle of collegial collaboration and shared responsibility, approved and encouraged by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, has led us to this decision, which we trust, with God’s help, will bring results of no small benefit to the Church.

Apostolica Sollicitudo, the 1965 letter establishing the Synod of Bishops, provided for three types of synodal assemblies: ordinary (or general) assemblies, of which there have been sixteen; extraordinary assemblies, of which there have been three (1969, 1985, and 2014); and special assemblies, of which there have been eleven. While ordinary assemblies include members elected by episcopal conferences, extraordinary assemblies have no such elected members, instead including presidents of episcopal conferences, heads of Eastern Catholic Churches, other ex officio members, and members by papal appointment.

Preparations for the 1969 Synod

Soon after the announcement, Bishop Władysław Rubin, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, asked all synod participants to suggest agenda items by February 1. Stating that contacts between the Holy See and episcopal conferences had been “rather scarce, fragmentary and of a prevalently administrative character,” Bishop Rubin expressed hope that the synod would “study concrete ways to weld the reciprocal relations between the Holy See and the bishops’ conferences, and among the conferences themselves.”

Fr. Gino Concetti, O.F.M., a frequent contributor to L’Osservatore Romano, foreshadowed a theme of synod discussions when he expressed concern about incipient nationalism among episcopal conferences.

Taking into account the synod fathers’ suggestions, the Vatican prepared the official agenda and sent it to synod fathers in May, with the insistence that it remain secret. That month, Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens of Belgium fostered expectations of a showdown at the synod when he said that it was time to end “the present tension between the Roman ‘center’ of the Church and the ‘periphery’ … What is wanted is to liberate everyone, including the Holy Father himself, from the system.”

In a June 23 address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Paul spoke about the upcoming synod in far more measured tones. The pope described episcopal conferences as “a significant step in the implementation of the [Second Vatican] Ecumenical Council, which, if carried out with wisdom and balance, will be able to make the most of the two well-known characteristics of the Church herself: her catholicity and her unity.”

The day after Pope Paul’s address to the cardinals, Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, published a revised Ordo Synodi Episcoporum (Order of the Synod of Bishops, pp. 525-539) to govern synodal procedure. Like the 1967 Ordo, it stated that extraordinary general assemblies are called “if matters indeed pertaining to the good of the universal Church require an expedited ruling.”

On the eve of the synod, a correspondent for National Catholic News Service reported that the Pope, the Curia, and episcopal conferences “are deeply divided. The issue is the Church’s authority, the authority of the Pope and bishops. The time is one of high crisis in that very authority. The outcome is very much in doubt.”

Amid expectations of a “showdown” and “high crisis,” it was no wonder that 670 journalists traveled to Rome to cover the synod—more than quadruple the number of synod fathers (146).

“The confusion and anxiety of both clergy and lay people before the Synod opened might have been avoided, if the agenda had been published,” Cardinal John Heenan of Westminster later commented. “In the Synod itself all the documents we received were marked sub secreto [under the pontifical secret]. We all know that there was not a single document nor any word spoken in the Synod concerning which the good of the Church required a cloak of secrecy.”

Instead of being a showdown, the synod was an extended discussion, conducted in the Pope’s presence, that ended with a whimper, and not with a bang. Nonetheless, with African prelates helping lead the defense of the Church’s doctrinal heritage, with its exploration of the proper understanding of collegiality, and with its concerns about national episcopal conferences going awry, the extraordinary synod of 1969 foreshadowed recent synods—even if the theme of synodality, a term invented in the 1980s, has now overshadowed discussion on how best to apply the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on collegiality.

The synod opens

Archbishop Nikola Eterović recalled in his history of the Synod of Bishops that 146 synod fathers took part in the seventeen-day extraordinary synod.

Nearly 90 percent were ex officio members, as provided in Apostolica Sollicitudo: heads of Eastern Catholic Churches, presidents of episcopal conferences, heads of curial dicasteries, and three religious chosen by the Roman Union of Superiors General. The other synod fathers were chosen by the pope.

The synod began on October 11, 1969, with a concelebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel. It was then the feast of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as the seventh anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

In his Latin homily—one of the most important of his pontificate, but not available in English on the Vatican website—Pope St. Paul VI recalled that “the Council devoted a special consideration to communion, which is understood in a twofold way as communion in Christ with God and as communion in Christ with those who believe in him and at the same time, in force and power, with the whole human race, and this especially when it noted the communion that exists in the Episcopate.”

Commenting on the Council’s teaching that “just as in the Gospel, the Lord so disposing, St. Peter and the other apostles constitute one apostolic college, so in a similar way the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are joined together” (Lumen Gentium, 22), Pope Paul preached that

this divine counsel, having been recalled concerning the apostolic office, by which the message of faith is brought to the People of God, the mysteries of grace are imparted to them, and the same is directed in earthly and temporal pilgrimage, bestows upon Us the gracious duty of attributing a broader and more effective force to the collegial character of the Episcopate; in which matter we are guided primarily by that notion of brotherhood which binds together all the followers of Christ in communion and which attains greater fullness in the Bishops.

“We think that We have already demonstrated how much We desire to promote this Collegiality of Bishops,” the pope continued, “whether by establishing the Synod of Bishops itself, or by approving Episcopal Conferences, or by electing to the proper ministries of our Roman Curia some Brothers and Pastors of souls in the episcopate residing within the boundaries of their dioceses.” Pope Paul then outlined his vision of the synod’s task:

While the Synod will therefore circumscribe and define the extraordinary nature of the powers of the Episcopal Conferences and their union both with this Apostolic See and with each other, it will also be able to shed light on what the Collegiality of Bishops is and how it is to be increased, in accordance with canonical rules, and at the same time it will also be able to confirm the instructions of the First and Second Vatican Councils concerning the power of the Successor of Blessed Peter, and of the College of Bishops with the Supreme Pontiff as its head.

Turning to “the moral and spiritual weight and importance that collegiality should have for each of us and for all of us,” the pope emphasized charity and unity, to which two “norms of action” should be directed.

The first norm is “to recognize in a more equitable manner for Our Brothers in the episcopate that sum of privileges and faculties which are conferred on them by the sacramental character.” In this context, the pope distinguished legitimate subsidiarity from illegitimate pluralism, but even subsidiarity must be “properly tempered with humble and wise prudence, so that the common good of the whole Church may not suffer any detriment from multiple or excessive forms of particular autonomy, which indeed hinder unity and charity.”

The second norm is “that all Bishops may play a more appropriate role and, being more closely united with one another, be able to carry out common functions in the governance of the universal Church. We trust that this will actually happen … for the common good, for the relief and support of Our apostolic labors, the burden of which has become heavier, and for the more manifest witness of the one faith and sincere charity.”

Synod officials and themes

As was the case in 1967, the synod fathers met for their discussions in what was formerly known as the Hall of Broken Heads, so called because it was a storage room for broken statues. The Ordo prescribed that the synod was to be conducted in Latin, with discussion groups during the synod’s latter part held in six languages. Despite the secrecy imposed on synod participants, the 1969 synod was more transparent than the previous synod, with the Vatican releasing summaries of the synod fathers’ speeches—a practice followed in the synods convoked by St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, until recent synods ceased to have that measure of transparency.

The Roman Pontiff is the ex officio president of a synod, and Pope Paul, when present, observed without intervening in the extraordinary synod’s discussions. Presiding in his place when he was absent were the three presidents-delegate: Cardinals Carlo Confalonieri, Valerian Gracias, and Agnelo Rossi.

The extraordinary synod had three relators-general, each of whom delivered a relatio, or report, at the beginning of a phase of discussion. Cardinal Franjo Šeper, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, discussed the doctrinal basis of collegiality; Cardinal François Marty of Paris discussed the relations between the Holy See and episcopal conferences; and Archbishop Marco McGrath, C.S.C. of Panama, discussed the mutual relations among episcopal conferences. Each relator, in turn, was assisted by a special secretary: Father Angelo Anton, S.J., of the Pontifical Gregorian University; Msgr. Willy Onclin, adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law; and the future Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, then secretary of the French bishops’ conference.

The synod discussion

Father Frank O’Connor, an Irish journalist who covered the synod, offered a helpful account of the synod proceedings in a 1970 journal article. Unlike the previous synod, in which there was pushback against some of the relationes (reports), the three relators-general did not make waves in 1969.

During the synod discussion, bishops from all over the world spoke of a great need for unity with the pope. Venerable Stefan Wyszyński, barred by the Polish Communist government from attending the previous synod, said:

Permit me, head of a Church that struggles, who have been honored by three years of captivity in the Name of Jesus, well acquainted with that part of the People of God that suffers for the faith, to say that even the atheists today expect from the Catholic Church a demonstration of unity, fidelity and love for the Roman Pontiff. Above all, the people oppressed by atheists expect from the Synod a declaration of unity with the Pope.

Cardinal Paul Zoungrana, M.Afr., of Ouagadougou (Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso) said that “in this post-conciliar period the communion in charity of the Church suffers from opinions that are sometimes contrary to unity. The causes of this crisis seem to be these: lack of family spirit, a certain rationalism that leads to rejection of authority, a nationalism that is anti-Catholic, and a wrong use of the means of social communication … This engenders immense confusion.”

“The shepherds of the African Church look confidently to the successor of Peter, not that they are ignorant of doctrine or are led by a servile spirit, but solely by reason of their love for the unity of the episcopal college, which they intend to defend without separating it from Peter,” he added.

“The Church is a family in which there is free dialogue to avoid misunderstandings, but to our African way of thinking, that does not entitle us to dispute or despise the authority of the father of the family,” added Archbishop Raymond-Marie Tchidimbo of Conakry, Guinea. “It is good and reassuring that the Sovereign Pontiff can carry out the ordinary acts of his magisterium without the direct participation of the local Churches. Thus, the Churches of the Third World have a defense against certain forms of spiritual imperialism that threaten them.”

“Many talk as if there were no supreme magisterium except the collegial one,” said Cardinal Pablo Muñoz Vega, S.J., of Ecuador. “It is clear that this is a false conception that should be corrected. When the Pope exercises his magisterium personally, it is essential that the bishops and the bishops’ conferences be in accord with the Pope and show it.”

Latin Patriarch Alberto Gori of Jerusalem said:

Let us leave the Holy Father free to clarify, at the right time, the principle of collegiality and the ways to apply it. The bishops should take care not to destroy with their own hands this asset represented by the principle of the one supreme authority in the Church, a principle that the other Christian denominations envy in us.

On the other hand, some bishops pushed for a greater role for the episcopate or the Synod of Bishops.

“There are those who insist on the role of the primacy (which primacy no one denies) with such force and in such a way that they present the papacy as if it were an absolute monarchy of the type before the French Revolution,” said Cardinal Suenens. “Such unbalanced insistence leads in practice to the negation of collegiality.”

He added:

We cannot deny the fact of disagreement on these points. At the root of this tension are two different theologies of the Church and also a difference of thinking and sensitivity towards the signs of the times in a world where participation in the forming of decisions (what I would call the ‘decision-making,’not the ‘decision-taking’) is regarded more and more as a normal exercise of co-responsibility and as an essential criterion of the good use of authority.

Bishop André Perraudin, M.Afr., the Swiss missionary bishop of Kabgayi, Rwanda, said that “an exaggerated ‘papalism’ is to be avoided. Even if the power of the Pope is full, supreme and personal, he ought, in certain cases, to act collegially, in order to achieve the maximum psychological effect … A Synod that is only consultative does not represent the full exercise of collegiality, even though it is a collegial activity.”

Echoing the sentiment, Bishop Johannes Vonderach of Chur, Switzerland, said that “decisions should be taken collegially and therefore the Synod should have deliberative, not just consultative, power.”

Some prelates were also able to weigh in during the press briefings. Cardinal John Wright, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, told reporters:

One well remembers how a single bishop, St. Athanasius, together with scattered members of the laity and some priests, stood alone with the Pope against the frightening heresy that was Arianism. . . . One well remembers a St. John Fisher who stood alone while the rest of the bench of bishops in his country opted for nationalism against universalism in what pertained to the faith, in this case precisely the primacy. Collegiality should be so defined as to make national conferences and other conferences the means and instruments that they are, not autonomous or sacrosanct.

Not all of the prelates discussed controversial matters. Archbishop Eterović recalled that the future Pope St. John Paul II reflected on communication within the context of communion (p. 45).

After the discussion concluded, the synod fathers, divided into nine working groups, produced proposals that were refined into nineteen Latin propositions.

The last four days

On October 25, Pope St. Paul VI addressed the synod fathers outside the synod hall, in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (pp. 723-726). Reflecting on the importance of Marian devotion and on the relation between the Blessed Virgin and the Church, the pontiff prayed for faith, charity, hope, and chastity.

Also on October 25, the synod fathers received the propositions, to allow for two days of reflection prior to voting.

Father O’Connor, the Irish journalist, recounted that the Vatican did not publish all of the Latin propositions, instead distributing to the media translations that were at times inaccurate. Happily, the future Pope St. John Paul II published the Latin propositions as footnotes in a 1970 article, “Synod biskupów: Zebranie nadzwyczajne” [Synod of Bishops: Extraordinary Assembly, pp. 144-150].

Despite the divisions evident in their discussion, the bishops, by wide margins, approved all nineteen propositions, including propositions

• seeking clarification on the respective competencies of individual bishops and episcopal conferences (as well as Eastern Catholic synods), with the Roman Pontiff entrusted with matters pertaining to unity in faith and the defense of communion
• asking the Pope to consult with episcopal conferences and Eastern Catholic synods in preparing documents pertaining to faith and the discipline of the Church
• seeking closer collaboration between the Curia and episcopal conferences (as well as Eastern Catholic synods)
• seeking regular communication from the Curia to episcopal conferences

The synod fathers also, by wide margins, approved propositions requesting that

• in matters pertaining to a diocese, province, or region, the bishops of the area be consulted
• bishops be informed of Vatican documents before they are published
• the Vatican communicate explanations of documents along with the documents themselves
• the Synod of Bishops be reorganized to manifest collegial solicitude more effectively
• the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops become a permanent institution, assisted by bishops
• the Secretariat help coordinate relations between the Holy See and episcopal conferences in synodal matters
• synods be held every two years
• episcopal conferences and Eastern Catholic synods be able to propose questions to be treated by the Synod of Bishops
• periti (experts) be allowed at synods
• episcopal conferences implement the teaching of Ad Gentes (n. 38), the Second Vatican Council’s decree on missionary activity, on spiritual and material aid to the missions
• episcopal conferences be encouraged to develop associations with neighboring conferences
• priests, religious, and lay organizations in various conferences collaborate in associations
• all bishops and episcopal conferences encourage justice for the poor
• episcopal conferences support a fund for poor nations, and the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace help elucidate the problem of poverty
• the Secretariat of the Synod and episcopal conferences communicate further on these issues

Participants could vote placet (yes), placet iuxta modum (yes, with a suggested amendment), or non placet (no). A two-thirds majority was required for a proposition’s passage.

All propositions gained the requisite majority by substantial margins; five propositions received zero non placet votes. The proposition that garnered the most opposition was the request for periti at future synods; it received 25 non placet votes.

Article 39§ 3 of the 1969 Ordo Synodi Episoporum provided for an up-or-down vote on each amendment suggested by the synod fathers (p. 539); according to the future Pope John Paul’s tabulation, the number of proposed amendments to the nineteen propositions totaled 260. Synod officials announced that because time was running out, the prescribed vote on the amendments would not take place; instead, the amendments would be sent to the synod fathers for their reflection.

On October 27, Pope Paul delivered his closing address in Latin, after the synod fathers had voted, but before all the votes were tabulated.

The Pontiff thanked the synod fathers for their hard work and said that the synod was convened to establish “canonical principles” arising from the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on “the collegiality of bishops, so clearly enunciated by it, and the conferences of bishops, so earnestly recommended by it.”

Pope Paul then said that he would give the greatest consideration to their proposals and that he would accept the synod fathers’ proposals for regularly called synods and a more efficient Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in which bishops would have a say. He cautioned, however, that “this institution is not intended to create rivalry between powers or to create difficulties for the effective and properly organized government of the Church; rather, it is intended to bring into reality the mutual inclination of the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops to foster closer communion and to organize their joint work aptly.”

The pope then pledged to respect the authority of bishops, whether individually or in conferences, without ever renouncing his own authority: “either that charism of Primacy, entrusted by Christ himself to Peter in his Church, of whom We are most humble but true successor, or the duty, rather than the right, of faithfully exercising the same Primacy.”

While pledging in principle to “accept all legitimate wishes that may arise” in accord with subsidiarity, Pope Paul warned against confusing subsidiarity with a “demand for ‘pluralism’ that harms the Faith, the moral law and the primary forms of the sacraments, as well as the liturgy and canonical discipline.”

On October 28, the final day of the synod, Pope Paul delivered an address to the African bishops. Speaking in French and in English, he paid tribute to their zeal in fostering “the faith and charity proper to Christianity, with a great concern for filial attachment to this Holy See, the foundation and principle of unity.”

He concluded the synod with a Latin-language prayer, in which he thanked the Lord for establishing the Church, “the pillar and foundation of truth, resting on the college of the Apostles, and built upon blessed Peter, their Prince, with the very chief cornerstone, Christ Jesus.”

“Contemplating your wonderful plan, full of love, we have begun to examine more deeply the communion by which all the members of the episcopal college are united with one another, and the bond of unity, charity and peace by which they are united to the Successor of Peter,” he continued, as he asked the Lord to bless the work still to be undertaken in order “to serve the People of God more diligently, so that the mystery of your love may shine forth more clearly, for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”

The synod’s aftermath

Following up on a proposal made by the synod fathers, Pope St. Paul VI in 1970 established the council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, composed of three members chosen by the Pontiff and twelve chosen by the synod fathers (pp. 249-250). In doing so, the pope made the general secretariat into a permanent institution composed of the secretary general and the council (now called the ordinary council) and thus gave bishops a permanent voice in the administration of the Synod of Bishops.

In a May 1970 address to the synodal council, the pope pledged to hold a synod every two years, as the synod fathers had requested seven months before. A synod was indeed held in 1971, but after that, ordinary synods were generally held every three years, until the unique phenomenon of the synod on synodality, with its preparatory phase (2021-23), its two sessions (2023-24), and its lengthy implementation phase (until 2028).

Pope St. John Paul II promulgated norms governing episcopal conferences in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, thus giving them greater stability (Canons 447-459). Nonetheless, the fathers of the extraordinary synod of 1985 echoed their predecessors of 1969 in calling for a study devoted to episcopal conferences. As a result, in 1998, Pope St. John Paul II—one of the 1969 synod fathers—issued his apostolic letter Apostolos Suos, on the theological and juridical nature of episcopal conferences. That letter may not be the last word on episcopal conferences, but it remains the most authoritative one.

Related at CWR: 

• “The Ghost of Synods Past: The First Synod of Arles” (July 6, 2024)
• “The Ghost of Synods Past: The Synod of 1967” (May 23, 2024)
• “The Ghost of Synods Past: The Synod of Elvira” (January 20, 2024)