“Several practices in the Catholic Church are not up to the requirement of a democratic culture and this is not acceptable, considering the evolving conditions of democracy in Europe which are more and more based on deliberation, participation, transparency and accountability.”
The Roman Curia is too powerful, too obscure and not accountable enough- Jérôme Vignon
This is the opinion expressed by Jérôme Vignon, the guest speaker of the Curia’s research institute, Discern. On October 18, he delivered one of the public lectures Discern organises from time to time. Notable foreign speakers share their ideas with the Maltese audience.
The well-known French Catholic is a Member of the Family and Society Commission of the French Episcopal Conference.
Since 2009 Vignon has been the president of the prestigious Semaines Social de France. This Catholic initiative hails from the very beginning of the 20th century and is inspired by the Church’s social teaching.
He is also no stranger to the political establishment, having served in the secretariat of the eminent Catholic politician Jacques Delors both when the latter served as a minister under François Mitterand and when he was President of the European Commission.
Given such a background, Discern did well to invite him to speak about the significance of the revival of democracy for mankind and the governance of the Church.
I met Vignon after he delivered his lecture. He told me that this was his second visit to Malta; his first was as part of the EU team negotiating Malta’s accession to the Union. “I am positively impressed. Your country has progressed a lot the last few years,” he said. This was a nice compliment, but I let it be as I was interested in discussing other things.
After referring to the introductory comment of this piece, I asked whether he thinks that the Church is or can ever be a democracy.
Vignon answered in the negative saying that the Church cannot be compared to a nation. However since, in his opinion, the values of the culture of democracy are common to the Christian value system, these should be reflected in the governance of the Church.
He states that two principles should be respected: the equal dignity of all baptised and the fact that the Church is not owned by any group or community.
I asked for concrete examples of how this democratic ethos can be put into practice in the governance of the Church.
The president of Semaines Sociales paused for a few seconds.
“Whenever a diocesan synod is held no subject should be considered as taboo. Even subjects which had been declared by the popes as a closed subject should be discussed,” he said. He mentioned as an example the synods held in Germany. The participants emphasised the need to find a concrete solution to the problem of the reception of communion by divorced Catholics. This problem was discussed, he said, and will be referred by the bishops to the Pope during their ad limina visits.
“Media with a Christian inspiration should be more open to debating contrasting opinion within the Church.”
As part of this democratic drive, Vignon emphasised that women should have a more active role and participation in the Church. The reports of the discussions in the Synod of Bishops, currently being held at the Vatican, illustrate that there are several bishops who share the same views with Vignon.
I referred the guest of the Maltese Curia to the harsh criticism of the Roman Curia made by the director of Discern at the conclusion of the lecture.
Fr Joe Inguanez said that the Roman Curia is too powerful and gave an example which, in his opinion, justifies his criticism.
“It is enough to say that recently the Roman Curia has let down the British Episcopal Conference.”
Vignon did not mince his words. “I fully agree with that comment. The Roman Curia is too powerful, too obscure and not accountable enough.”
I then asked him about the role of Catholic politicians.
“Catholic politicians have to make decisions based on their conscience enlightened by the Gospels. Christianity is not like Islam; it does not dictate the contents of the law. Catholicism proposes not dictates. Catholic politicians have to consider the needs of all society. They have to be guided by the principle of proportionality. They can accept a compromise which will not be acceptable to the bishops. In some cases Catholic politicians can take positions different from those taken by the bishops.”
I probed further: “Are there no limits? Is every compromise legitimate?” Vignon weighs every word.
“A Catholic politician should not be in favour of abortion but can be in favour of its de-penalisation. A Catholic politician should not be in favour of considering same-sex relationship as a marriage.
People in this relationship could be given fiscal, inheritance and insurance rights. But they definitively should not be given the right to adopt, as this would make same-sex couples equal to married couples. Besides, adoption by gays goes against children’s rights. Children have the right to be able to refer both to their father and their mother.”
Vignon was very close to Delors – a Socialist and a Catholic – and is very familiar with the workings of EU institutions. “Is the EU becoming too liberal and is it losing its social conscience?” I ask.
His answer is an emphatic yes. “This has been the trend since the mid-1990s,” he said, blaming Romano Prodi and Tony Blair for the new emphasis on neo-liberal values in the EU. “Individualism is becoming more important than solidarity. This is a pity as solidarity is very important to democracy.”
I concluded the interview with a question about the future of the Church. His answer is uplifting.
“Vatican Council II has provided us with an open and future oriented vision of the Church’s mission. The Church is still imperfect in how it reflects the gift of God to humanity and how it contributes to the unity of mankind. Being aware of that imperfection, the Church is not discouraged nor paralysed by just sticking to the past. “The tradition of the Church is to be open to the future and to move forward. Becoming open to a more direct influence of democratic values is clearly a way of moving forward, closer to God’s love and to the service of mankind.”
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt