Kicking The Can, Francis-Style, Or: The Synod Is Sinking.

One can see why he is having problems…

The Synodal Synod on Synodality has been synoded to 2024, postponing of another year an already, ahem, optimistic timeline.

I do not like to indulge in pessimistic conspiracy theories along the lines of “Francis will wait one year more and try to completely subvert Catholic doctrine”. I think, rather, that it is far more likely that things are as they, in fact, look.

Postponing is very seldom a sign that things are working. In fact, it is most often a sign that things are not working. In this case, it was obvious to Stevie Wonder that the synod on synodality was not working at all. Hence, I think, the kicking of the synodal can down the road.

Francis is around 85. At that age, and in his conditions, you don’t really look with optimism at your 10 years plan. In fact, the day of the Lord can knock at his door any time. Postponing what he really cares for is not a luxury available to him anymore.

The sum of these two very obvious facts tells me this: Francis does not see – at least for now – an outcome that would allow him to brag and play “great innovator”. in fact, he sees the situation getting out of control and he himself looking like a cretin in the middle. Therefore, he postpones. If things improve, he can always shorten the wait. If things keep going badly, he can still postpone some more. If he dies, problem solved.

Truth is: this synod is a disaster. In the West, only an extremely tiny minority of people has any interest, and they are exactly the old Caucasian witches everybody else mocks. This means that there is no trust in Francis, none whatever, and this synod is taking the shape of a huge boomerang. In Africa, the participation is much higher, and they want nothing in common with the above mentioned witches. In Countries like Germany, the situation is so out of hand that Francis is seen not as the Great Innovator, but as the Big Brake. Basically, nobody likes this guy, and the bomb he has triggered is now clearly threatening to explode in his hands.

Francis will use the next two years to try to defuse the big African problem he is clearly having. He might also try to get a bit more participation from the mainstream Catholics, who – bad instructed as they are – are clearly ignoring this synod as a dangerous stunt made by a guy they don’t like, and don’t trust, for reasons they are afraid to even ask. At the same time, he will try to persuade the Feminazis (of both sexes) from ze Cermany that he is on their side, and they just need to tone it down a little. But most of all, I think he will keep discerning and discerning, until he dies and has to deal with much bigger problems than German witches (of both sexes).

I can imagine the old, bitter guy complaining in vulgar Argentinian words about the ingratitude of those he wanted to help, and the rigidity of those he wanted to shaft. Still, as things are now he does not want to pay the price of a big conflict with neither of them. Hence, the postponement.

We shall see how this pans out.

Still, my preferred solution is that the sudden death of this tool puts an end to the general embarrassment.