The important changes in the Catholic Church must be reflected in the Code of Canon Law. The Second Vatican Council awakened a great progressive euphoria, which later deflated with the arrival of John Paul II and his new Code. The same thing can happen with the Synod. Therefore, what must be demanded is that if any advance is announced, it be reflected in a law. The problem is that nothing important and novel is glimpsed, and it is regrettable to think that it would be enough if the synod managed for the current Church to reach where current laws allow. Pope Francis says this in his accompanying note to the Final Document edited and offered to the Church for its implementation. We will see how it all ends, but currently, the disappointment of some is very great.
At first, issues of high caliber regarding the communion, participation, and mission of the Church came to light. A new egalitarian way of valuing all the faithful, a new way of understanding authority, as people understand it today, a new language to express the contents of primordial Christian faith, avoiding ideological-philosophical adhesions that are not understood today, etc. An example in each of the topics. What we thought was most important has been marginalized. Some think that above all it is due to fear of ruptures that would be spearheaded by the most conservative. Unity must be compatible with diversity, it is frequently said, but it is a hollow criterion.
What must be done, as best as possible: give intensity to the life of the Small Base Communities, so they can open paths with creative freedom, as has always happened. For this naturally, rams are needed that break with legalistic impediments that seek to keep things as they are. Clericalism, so relentlessly denounced but without transforming legislation, by the former Pope Francis, remains just as strong. Precisely by invoking current law, the Vatican responds negatively to the German bishops who asked for permission to allow laypeople to preach in Mass.
With the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law in 1983, what concerns the homily was reorganized. It was novel to allow laypeople to preach, but under certain prerequisites, which did not include the petition cited, implying a change to canon 767 § 1, whose content must be respected: “Among the forms of preaching stands out the homily, which is part of the liturgy itself and is reserved for the priest or deacon; throughout the liturgical year, the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life shall be presented in it, starting from the sacred text.” Pure clerical essence, with a refined hierarchical authoritarianism. Only bishops have the right to preach, canon 763, while canon 764 grants priests and deacons the faculty to do so. The homily is reserved for those who stand at the altar.
We are facing the immovable wall of the Code of Canon Law, which only the Pope could change, because the Roman Pontiff has supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the Church. Almost nothing. Furthermore, his authority is divine law, meaning that the Church considers it as received directly from God and must be obeyed as an expression of His will. But in practice, not everyone sees things so clearly or observes them so literally. By the way, not even the most conservative ones. In another time, united sword and cross, stepping outside the rules could imply terrible or more or less serious consequences: marginalization, persecution, imprisonment, and even death sentence with execution. But since it is not like that today, there is room for freedom and to be able to open “dissenting” paths, which could end up like some who were later recognized and altered the very course of the Church. This has always happened, even in the darkest and most dangerous times. What is needed are free spirits who stand up so that the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth can make its way through, seen from another perspective, one that so many times in the history of the Church the clergy themselves have been those putting spokes in the wheels.
We must seek new ways of being and doing Church, outside of codes, laws, and customs. Let us also embrace the theology of liberation, the social one, but also the dogmatic and moral ones. With freedom, let us recover our dignity and express our religious experiences without the corset imposed by supremacist clericalism that reaches to affect our moral conscience until it subjects it. Achieving freedom in the Church today is more possible than yesterday. The Gospel is within everyone’s reach, which was not always the case. Let us gather to read it and together make memory of the Master’s word. Let us do this as his disciples who want to follow his way of life. May each person say what they feel about what they sense. Let us help each other so that our lives become more and more Christian. Even a Eucharistic narrative can be included in our meetings. It does not matter to give a name to what we do. If there is truth and life in those encounters, we will leave enriched by Christ, which perhaps is our main aspiration as believers. What we frequently fail to achieve with the masses, including the respective homilies given by whoever has authority or faculty for it.
June 25, 2026. José María Álvarez Rodríguez (belongs to the Christian Networks groups of Asturias)
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