Cardinal Zen Denounces “Bergoglian Synodality” as “Ironclad Manipulation” at Extraordinary Consistory

Full text of Cardinal Joseph Zen’s intervention at the two-day meeting of cardinals convened by Pope Leo XIV.

(Cardinal Joseph Zen and his personal secretary with Pope Leo XIV.)

ROME, 9 January 2026 — In his intervention at the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals held at the Vatican on January 7–8, Cardinal Joseph Zen delivered a searing critique of the Synod on Synodality, denouncing its process as an “ironclad manipulation” and warning that its continual invocation of the Holy Spirit is “ridiculous” and verges on “blasphemy.”

Delivered behind closed doors in the presence of Pope Leo XIV and the 170 cardinals assembled, the 93-year-old Bishop emeritus of Hong Kong used the three minutes allotted to him to address Pope Francis’ accompanying note to the final document of the Synod on Synodality, a process that spanned three years, from 2021–2024.

Although Pope Leo XIV had initially informed the Cardinals that four topics would be taken up, upon their arrival at the consistory the members of the Sacred College were told that, owing to time constraints, they would be asked to select only two. They chose “the Synod and Synodality” and the mission of the Church in light of Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation on the proclamation of the Gospel, Evangelii Gaudium.

At its core, the intervention argues that the synodal process was not merely flawed but tightly managed in a way that deprived bishops of genuine deliberative freedom and of their rightful authority as successors of the apostles. Cardinal Zen also sharply denounced what he sees as the instrumental use of spiritual language, warning that constant appeals to the Holy Spirit are being deployed to sanctify predetermined outcomes, as if the Spirit could be expected to contradict the Church’s two-thousand-year Tradition.

The intervention then broadens its warning to the wider Church. By assigning the Final Document a paradoxical status—magisterial yet “not strictly normative,” authoritative yet open to divergent local interpretations—the process risks doctrinal incoherence and ecclesial fragmentation. The cardinal cautions that this approach mirrors the path that led to division within Anglicanism and undermines Catholic credibility in ecumenical dialogue, particularly with the Orthodox Churches, for whom synodality has always meant the real authority of bishops acting together and walking together with Jesus Christ.

“Pope Bergoglio has exploited the word Synod but has made the Synod of Bishops, an institution established by Paul VI, disappear,” concludes the cardinal.

Prior to the opening of the Extraordinary Consistory, Cardinal Zen was received in private audience by Pope Leo XIV.

Here below is the full text of Cardinal Joseph Zen’s intervention at the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals, published with the kind permission of His Eminence.

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On the Accompanying Note by the Holy Father Francis

The Pope says that, with the Final Document, he gives back to the Church what has developed over these years (2021–2024) through “listening” (to the People of God) and “discernment” (by the Episcopate?).

I ask:

• Has the Pope been able to listen to the entire People of God?

• Do the lay people present represent the People of God?

• Have the Bishops elected by the Episcopate been able to carry out a work of discernment, which must surely consist in “disputation” and “judgment”?

• The ironclad manipulation of the process is an insult to the dignity of the Bishops, and the continual reference to the Holy Spirit is ridiculous and almost blasphemous (they expect surprises from the Holy Spirit; what surprises? That He should repudiate what He inspired in the Church’s two-thousand-year Tradition?).

The Pope, “bypassing the Episcopal College, listens directly to the People of God,” and he calls this “the appropriate interpretative framework for understanding hierarchical ministry”?

The Pope says that the Document is magisterium, “it commits the Churches to make choices consistent with what is stated in it.” But he also says “it is not strictly normative …. Its application will need various mediations”;“the Churches are called upon to implement in their different contexts, the authoritative proposals contained in the document”; “unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching”; “each country or region can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its tradition and needs.”

I ask:

• Does the Holy Spirit guarantee that contradictory interpretations will not arise (especially given the many ambiguous and tendentious expressions in the document)?

• Are the results of this “experimenting and testing,” e.g. (of the “creative activation of new forms of ministeriality”), to be submitted to the judgment of the Secretariat of the Synod and of the Roman Curia? Will these be more competent than the Bishops to judge the different contexts of their Churches?

• If the Bishops believe themselves to be more competent, do the differing interpretations and choices not lead our Church to the same division (fracture) found in the Anglican Communion?

Perspectives on Ecumenism

• Given the dramatic rupture of Anglican communion, will we unite ourselves with the Archbishop of Canterbury (who remains with only about 10% of the global Anglican community), or with the Global Anglican Future Conference (which retains about 80%)?

• And with the Orthodox? Their Bishops will never accept Bergoglian synodality; for them, synodality is “the importance of the Synod of Bishops.” Pope Bergoglio has exploited the word Synod, but has made the Synod of Bishops—an institution established by Paul VI—disappear.

Read more about Cardinal Joseph Zen here, at The College of Cardinals Report.