VATICAN CITY – The end of the fortnight for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family ended on a blessed note today … literally. Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Square to beatify Pope Paul VI, author of Humanae Vitae and the shepherd for most of the Second Vatican Council. The show of episcopal unity behind Catholic tradition provided a contrast to the fractious debate inside and outside of the synod hall over Catholic teachings on the family and pastoral outreach in a changing world. Francis used the homily for today’s Mass to put the debate in context and to call for healing.

“It has been a great experience,” Pope Francis said (quoted from his prepared remarks released to the media earlier, emphases in the original), “in which we lived synodality and collegiality, and felt the power of the Holy Spirit who constantly guides and renews the Church. For the Church is called to waste no time,” he continued, “in seeking to bind up open wounds and to rekindle hope in so many people who have lost hope.” Francis further quoted Paul VI from his speech establishing the Synod of Bishops in connecting his predecessor to the effort over the last couple of weeks. “[B]y carefully surveying the signs of our times,” Paul wrote in Apostolica Sollicitudo, “we are making every effort to adapt ways and methods … to the growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society.”

After a long day yesterday, Pope Francis no doubt felt the need to remind the congregation of the reason for calling the synod in the first place, a decision which came under question yesterday with the release of the relatio finalis. Most of the document easily passed the two-thirds threshold for adoption, but the passages from the draft relatio that created the most controversy and the most media interest didn’t make the cut. The English translation has not been published, but even from my own poor grasp of the Italian, it was clear that the passages relating to homosexuality got edited to remove the most provocative language. Even with those removed, the paragraphs didn’t get the supermajority required for them to be an official part of the relatio, and neither did the passages regarding access to the Eucharist for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Also absent were references to a “law of graduality,” which critics charged would lead to confusion over graduality of the application of doctrine rather than graduality in formation.

Needless to say, this generated some rather pointed commentary from the media. “Pope suffers setback as proposals for wider acceptance of gay people fail to win two-thirds majority at synod,” read the BBC’s tweet. One Italian journalist in the briefing room declared, “The progressives lost,” although I was not entirely clear on whether he approved or lamented that conclusion. A few of the reporters from the secular media expressed disgust or disappointment in the immediate aftermath of the briefing last evening, and some of that ended up in their reports. CBS reported that the church had “scrapped” its welcoming language to gays and lesbians (which ignored the several declarations by bishops of welcome), and that the minority vote may have been the progressives protesting against the changed language:

It appeared that the 118-62 vote on the gay section might have been a protest vote by progressive bishops who refused to back the watered-down wording. The original draft had said gays had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay couples with “precious” support.

I’m not sure how CBS got that impression about the nature of the vote, but it’s certainly a possibility. If so, though, it would demonstrate that it’s the progressives that were in the minority here — which is exactly what some of the synod participants said after the original draft had included that language. That doesn’t bode well for those positions as this relatio makes its way to the broader range of Catholic bishops.

On the other hand, a few said that just having the discussion was a victory for the progressives, especially with the decision to leave the paragraphs in the final document while noting that they did not pass. Perhaps, but the Vatican didn’t push that idea. In the briefing, they repeatedly emphasized that this relatio finalis was not a magisterial document — in other words, it has no teaching authority at all. It merely provides the framework for the discussion over the next year until the ordinary Synod meets a year from now. That will be a much broader conference, and it may be less influenced by activists as a result. It’s this rather fractious end that had some questioning whether any positive purpose had emerged from this particular synodal process, or whether it had caused more confusion than it resolved. In his speech to the synod last night, released nearly immediately to the media (as was the Italian version of the relatio finalis), Francis said that he was pleased to see such strong debate rather than quiet platitudes:

Personally I would be very worried and saddened if it were not for these temptations and these animated discussions; this movement of the spirits, as St Ignatius called it (Spiritual Exercises, 6), if all were in a state of agreement, or silent in a false and quietist peace. Instead, I have seen and I have heard – with joy and appreciation – speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and doctrinal zeal, of wisdom, of frankness and of courage: and of parresia. And I have felt that what was set before our eyes was the good of the Church, of families, and the “supreme law,” the “good of souls” (cf. Can. 1752). And this always – we have said it here, in the Hall – without ever putting into question the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of marriage: the indissolubility, the unity, the faithfulness, the fruitfulness, that openness to life (cf. Cann. 1055, 1056; and Gaudium et spes, 48).

The pontiff also spoke of the temptations on all sides of the debate, perhaps in an attempt to heal the rifts that emerged over the past two weeks:

– One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals.

– The temptation to a destructive tendency to goodness [it. buonismo], that in the name of a deceptive mercy binds the wounds without first curing them and treating them; that treats the symptoms and not the causes and the roots. It is the temptation of the “do-gooders,” of the fearful, and also of the so-called “progressives and liberals.”

– The temptation to transform stones into bread to break the long, heavy, and painful fast (cf. Lk 4:1-4); and also to transform the bread into a stone and cast it against the sinners, the weak, and the sick (cf Jn 8:7), that is, to transform it into unbearable burdens (Lk 11:46).

– The temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfill the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.

– The temptation to neglect the “depositum fidei” [the deposit of faith], not thinking of themselves as guardians but as owners or masters [of it]; or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality, making use of meticulous language and a language of smoothing to say so many things and to say nothing! They call them “byzantinisms,” I think, these things…

John Thavis surmises that the relatio finalis and the Pope’s speech demonstrated an attempt at unity after the “earthquake” of the draft relatio:

The final document of this assembly showed that most of the bishops were with the pope in making evangelization more about dialogue and accompaniment. At the same time, a significant number of these bishops were not ready to completely set aside the church’s traditional doctrinal framework for discussing these issues.

Compared to the midterm synod document, which I described here as an “earthquake,” the final text is clearly a compromise. Many of the bishops were not comfortable with the dramatic new language that appeared in the midterm report, issued only five days earlier.

Pope Francis took the microphone at the end of the voting this evening, and said the assembly had been an encounter of joy and beauty, but also had experienced moments of “desolation, tension and temptation.” Among the temptations, he said, were those of a “hostile rigidity” that wanted to close the church inside the letter of the law, expressed today by so-called “traditionalists.” He also warned against a false charity by so-called “liberals and progressives,” as well as the risk of adapting too easily to the spirit of the world.

All this was part of a constructive process, the pope said, adding that he would have been worried and saddened had there not been these “animated discussions.” He underlined that as pope, it was his role to protect church unity and to remind pastors that their primary duty is to nourish their flock. He added: “The presence of the pope is a guarantee for everyone.”

The pope also returned to his favorite theme of pastoral mercy, saying the church must have “its doors wide open to receive the needy, the repentant, and not only the just or those who think they are perfect!”

This, I think, is about right. At the briefing last night (the second of the day), the message from the panel seemed to emphasize the broad unity on most of the relatio and the enthusiastic reception that Francis’ speech generated. That briefing and the earlier briefing on the rather anodyne “synodal message” issued in the afternoon were among the most attended of the entire synod. Here’s another picture from the Holy See Press Office in which readers can confirm that I was actually at work yesterday:

I'm in this one too. RT @HolySeePress: #media #briefing #Synod14 http://t.co/wjCjjuN9jA

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) October 18, 2014

Instead of writing an analysis of this immediately, I met an Italian journalist and his mother for a delightful evening in Rome, which lasted until the wee hours of the morning. I spent a considerable amount of that time trying to convince both of them to move to the US, but not necessarily Minnesota. Cristiano Bosco writes about American politics for his Italian audience, and perhaps he might eventually get assigned to the US for coverage here.  We strategized on how to get him into a couple of presidential primary debates, so keep your eyes open for an Italian take on our big horserace coming in 2015.

This morning, I had planned to observe the Mass from the roof of the colonnade overseeing St. Peter’s Square, but after a short night opted for the less energetic choice of the press room. I had a better view of the Mass there, which was televised in its entirety, and had the ability to finish my work for this trip. This is not the first beatification ceremony I have attended at the Vatican; I came to Rome for now-St. John Paul II’s beatification. The difference between the two could hardly be more dramatic. In 2011, the square had already filled with people the night before, and 3 million crowded all around the Vatican by the time the ceremony started. Today, although the police were prepared for a massive turnout, the crowd barely spilled out of the perimeter of St. Peter’s Square. The barricades on Via Conciliazione were empty even as close as the La Sala Stampa offices, and the stores were open for business as usual. That seems to sum up the mood here in Rome for the Synod as well — business as usual, both inside and outside the Vatican.

I will return to the US tomorrow, and will probably return to a normal schedule by Wednesday. Today, I’ll do all the souvenir shopping I’ve put off while working here, and maybe squeeze in a couple of more sights if I can. I have lots of packing to do, and lots of unpacking of the meaning of this synod and the experience as well. I’ll have more for our partner in this coverage, Catholic Match Institute, when I get home and have access to more reliable Internet service.  For all those who have followed my dispatches from Rome, buon Domenica and … stay tuned for more.