Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, has asked Leo XIV to put an end to the Synod on Synodality and to relieve those responsible for its organization. He does so in an extensive reflection published on his blog on the occasion of the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, November 4, whose English translation has been circulating since November 6. “Let us put an end to this so-called ‘Synod on Synodality,’” writes the cardinal.
Specifically, Zen requests that the Holy Father grant “a long vacation” to Cardinals Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Jean-Claude Hollerich, General Rapporteur of the assembly, and that he not entrust the governance of the Church to the Synod Secretariat. He also calls for the replacement of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post held by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, of whom he says “he has written things he would not write today.” Zen further criticizes a letter from Francis that tasked the dicastery with “encouraging theologians” instead of defending doctrine.
A text that begins with Trent and St. Charles Borromeo
The reflection opens with the figure of the Archbishop of Milan and the Council of Trent, which responded to a Protestant Reformation that denied the sacraments, the Eucharist, and the true priesthood. Zen maintains that Vatican II has not been applied with due fidelity and that doctrine must be kept intact. Regarding the Synod, he asserts that, despite what he describes as “manipulation” and strict control, it has not achieved its objectives. Among its “hidden agendas,” he cites the updating of sexual morality under the LGBTQ banner, and then warns: “If we now seek to accommodate ourselves to the world, we betray our own mission.”
The cardinal dwells on the final report of Study Group 9, which he says presents the sexual act between a homosexual couple as a gift from God, something he calls “blasphemous and unacceptable.” Zen wonders whether the Pope saw the document before its publication and whether he approved it.
Criticisms of Francis and the Jubilee entrance into St. Peter’s
The text also contains a judgment on the previous pontificate. Zen acknowledges Francis’s goodness and his care for the poor, but believes he lacked balance and at times compromised truth for compassion: “He destroyed many good things built by his predecessors,” he states, and recalls his phrase “Who am I to judge?”
Finally, the cardinal recalls that during the Jubilee Year there was a “triumphal entry” into St. Peter’s Basilica that he describes as a “Pride parade” and “a true profanation of the Basilica,” and laments that the Holy See did not protest. Zen had already sharply criticized synodality at the extraordinary consistory in January.