“Get out of your comfort zone. Be an outgoing Church.” It was in front of an audience of skeptical bishops that Cardinal Christophe Pierre – representative of the Holy See to the American episcopate – delivered his speech on November 14, 2023. During those 20 minutes, the high prelate urged the conservative USCCB to adopt the synodal vision of the Church defended by the Pope.
It must be said that the nuncio’s remarks were cautiously anticipated. Earlier in the month, on November 2, 2023, the porporato had granted an interview to America, the progressive Jesuit magazine which regularly opens its columns to the contributions of Fr. James Martin, an ardent defender of LGBT activism in the Church.
Cardinal Pierre had harsh words regarding the Catholic Church in the United States, accusing it of being devoid of an evangelizing vigor that he sees to be much more present in South and Central America. In addition, the nuncio had also conformed to the clichés of progressivism, deploring the fact that “most young priests today dream of wearing the cassock and celebrating the traditional Mass.”
Speaking in turn, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, delivered a point-by-point refutation of the criticisms of Pope Francis’s envoy while welcoming the evangelizing effort of priests and American seminarians: “Whoever has an ear should hear what the Spirit says to the Churches,” concluded Bishop Broglio, quoting the Apocalypse. There is no doubt that Cardinal Pierre’s ears must have been burning.
And if that were not clear enough, Archbishop Broglio, questioned by the press on the sidelines of the session as to whether he shared the vision of the American Church described by the nuncio, simply responded with a terse “no.”
Before concluding: “There is a gap between the content of this interview and the reality of the Church here. That’s my perception in any case: the nuncio has his opinion and I have mine, that’s all.” It was an unfiltered sequence which has the merit of showing how much the link between Rome and the USCCB has eroded under the current pontificate.
Not to mention the fact that the recent dismissal of Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas, a long-time opponent of Pope Francis’s positions, was rather poorly received in the United States.
Two weeks after the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) opened its fall plenary session. On this occasion, the apostolic nuncio of the Holy See and the leader of the American bishops did not hide their differences on the theme of an “outgoing Church,” which is dear to Pope Francis.