The Pope’s media blackout created a shadowy Synod on Synodality, with its own ‘sideshows’…

Sometimes the boring stuff is the most important. Anyone who has ever worked in journalism for several decades, such as myself, can attest to this. 

Whether you’re sifting through legal documents or financial statements, there’s more often than not a story — or at the very least some important information that can be used as supporting material — that can be gleaned from such an exercise.  

The same often goes for materials and documents released by the Vatican. I often try to read Holy See correspondence in Italian (like the United Nations, the Vatican often puts out information in a variety of languages) on the Vatican website or in its official newspaper l’Osservatore Romano.  

But information out of Rome, often resembling a fire hose, was down to a trickle over the past month. That was the story that loomed over the whole Synod on Synodality story.

For several weeks, there were no documents to read through and very few notable news conferences. You ended up with talking points about the lack of talking points. It was, to be blunt, next to impossible to know what was happening. Maybe that was the point?

We know, now that this second phase of the synod has come to an end, that the Vatican issued a document that “said it was ‘urgent’ that women have a larger role but postponed discussion of major issues such as ordaining women as deacons and failed to address outreach to L.G.B.T.Q.+ Catholics.”

That’s what The New York Times reported this past weekend upon the synod’s conclusion. It should be noted that the final phase will take place in October 2024. At that point, recommendations on what doctrinal changes — yes, doctrinal changes — the church should adopt will be put in front of Pope Francis for consideration.

While there was plenty of coverage once the meeting was over, there was little to no coverage of the synod while it was taking place. At least no coverage that informed readers in general, and Catholics in particular, on what was actually going on inside the Vatican these past few weeks. Almost all “information” available was second-hard or from Vatican approved voices. There were no transcripts or videos of crucial speeches, for example.

The reason for all of this was a simple one. Pope Francis wanted a media blackout.

That’s right. A meeting meant to inspire open dialogue was held under a veil of silence. This did not go unnoticed by those of us in the press who cover the church. But some journalists seemed more upset than others.

Writing for the Catholic Herald, Elise Ann Allen noted the following in an Oct. 23 piece:

Perhaps one of the most exciting moments of the Synod of Bishops so far, not to mention one of the most illustrative, took place during a heated exchange between synod organisers and a veteran Vatican reporter over a publicity “fast” called for by Pope Francis during the assembly.

In his opening address for the Oct. 4-29 Synod of Bishops on Synodality, officially titled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”, the pope called for “a certain fast from the public word”, justified as a way to safeguard the objectivity of the discussion.

In effect, it meant the pope was telling participants not to divulge what was going on behind closed doors except those selected by synod officials to take part in carefully choreographed daily briefings in the Vatican Press Office, and even then to speak only in the most general terms.

To justify the cone of silence, Francis cited the influence he felt public opinion had exercised on previous synod gatherings, such as the 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family, when communion for divorced and remarried Catholics was a major talking point, and the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, during which the married priesthood was a source of debate.

In both cases, Francis said bishops entered the discussion under the “pressure” of polarised public debate, and thus for this month’s gathering, he wanted to underline “the priority of listening.”

This is exactly what reporters don’t want to hear, especially ones covering a potentially pivotal event such as this one — a synod that could forever change Catholicism.

Not surprisingly, things got testy when reporters covering the synod actually had a chance to ask some questions.

This is what Allen — the wife of the noted Vatican observer John L. Allen, Jr. — also reported in the Catholic Herald:

Those tensions came to a head during an Oct. 17 press conference, when a reporter asked whether participants were aware of the topics being repeatedly asked about by journalists in the daily briefings, if they knew what the major headlines were, and how those issues lined up with priorities inside the synod hall.

In response, Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications and ostensibly the PR czar for the synod, testily responded that synod participants are not “closed off”, and are able to read newspapers and online stories.

“At the same time, we have tried to explain (that) the synod is not (meant) to respond to the questions of one journalist or another. It’s a discernment of the church born of a process … a long process of listening to the whole church in the whole world,” Ruffini said.

He insisted that what’s happening in the synod hall “is not out of touch with the world,” and that participants are routinely praying for world events, such as the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Finally, Allen also made this astute observation:

In this sense, Pope Francis’s imposition of a media blackout, which perhaps at some level avoids the public exchanging of punches between ideological opponents in the press, has created different tensions.

Reporters have routinely asked about “conspiracies” and impressions that the pope’s “private agenda” is being pushed, or whether a “liberal cabal” is manipulating the discussion to sway it in one way or another.

Rather than taking issues off the table, the press, not knowing what is being said about the hot-button issues being discussed or having access to participants who can shed light, have honed in on a select number of the most polemical issues.

That’s right. The synod — at least for those of us on the outside — did fuel conspiracies.

That’s the last thing this pope or the church needs at a time when our news feeds are loaded with misinformation and conspiracy theories. At the same time, many in press see their role to be one of partisanship rather than informing the public. Also, here at GetReligion, we have — for a year or more — noted that major newsrooms are simply ignoring many important events and trends in Catholic news. Why?