Synod is the exact translation of the Greek noun synodos. It is interesting to collect the elements from which the word is formed: syn, as an adverb means "whole, all together, at the same time", and as a preposition it can be translated "with, by means of". The noun synodos, indicates gathering, assembly, and also fellow traveler. The syn is composed with hodos, "way, route, guide" (it is feminine in Greek); from there it is also formed méthodos, method. Historically, in Christian antiquity the synod was called the convocation, and the meeting of the bishops, according to the ecclesiastical provinces, each presided over by the Metropolitan; which meet in assembly to deal with matters of utmost importance, define doctrines, and condemn and refute heresies, warning of the heterogeneity of those errors, in contradiction with respect to the didache, whose foundation is found in the apostolic beginnings. Two main features to keep in mind: the protagonists are always bishops, successors of the Apostles of Jesus, and the duration is determined in time, it does not extend excessively.
The name synod has remained to signify only those designated meetings, that is, an exclusively theological, ecclesiastical use. The history of the Church offers numerous testimonies of the interchange between synod and council, a name that comes from Latin, as we shall see below.
Aristotle rightly affirmed that the road, as a movement, is identified by the end; the goal is what allows us to recognize the road that leads to it, identifying it by where it leads. To give a banal example, if one wishes to go to Mar del Plata, one will not take the road that leads to Cordoba.
Concilium is an exquisitely Ciceronian term. According to Cicero, nature conciliates us, unites us, first of all, with the gods, the fathers, and the homeland. Concilio is equivalent to junta, or congress. History has reserved concilium to designate the universal convocation in the Church; synods are rather partial meetings, of a country, a region, a group of nations. By themselves, council and synod are synonyms. The reference to God, and to the Fathers bishops - that is, to Tradition - identifies the Church, and her councils. Synodus or synhodos, Latin transcription of the Greek noun is of classical use, and is also found in the writings of the Holy Fathers of the West.
The linguistic reference on which I have dwelt is not idle; it brings us closer to the nature of the realities addressed. The name is the thing.
The synod proposed by Rome has novel and unusual characteristics. It has been taking place for two years, with a consultation extended, through the dioceses, to the whole Church. It is all an exaggeration, impossible to concretize; the alleged democracy hides the reality: the results will be decided by the Pontiff, and it is difficult for him to renounce the voluntary management of the orientations he desires. At this stage of the Pontificate, it is already known which inclinations will be registered in the Synod. Let it look like democracy; I decide, who can be fooled? The Synodal period will last for several years. Another novel feature is the participation of lay people and, according to the "gender perspective", also of women. It is the first time that this has happened; the bishops are not the only protagonists.
It is to be feared that this universal Synod will suffer the contagion of the German Synod, which smells of heresy. Rome is silent, one can suspect that this silence is its agreement. The German Synod is obsessed with two main issues: the communion of the divorced who have entered into a second union, and the demand for a greater insertion of homosexuals in the ecclesial communion. I am not referring, now, to the many ecclesiastics who are homosexuals. Also - it is already a historical issue - the opposition to Paul VI's encyclical Humanae vitae. According to the Buenos Aires newspaper "La Prensa", "Francis made the climate crisis one of the fundamental pillars of his decade-long leadership". It is very likely that the Synod in progress will also take up this theme and insist on it.
It is disturbing that there are some indications of Rome's benevolence towards the UN's Agenda 2030. On the contrary, the Church should prophetically announce the opposition of that program to Christian anthropology and to the natural order. I dwell on this matter, which is of the utmost importance. The 2030 Agenda is a globalist project of the United Nations and associated organizations that pressure States to adopt abortion policies and "Comprehensive Sex Education". The objectives of this Agenda are related to the "gender perspective"; in reality, it is an ideology, which is the educational foundation par excellence. There is a real obsession to adopt the sexual issue as the basis for all discussions, which has repercussions on population policy, as seen at the International Conference on Population and Development (Bucharest, 1974). At the 1994 edition of the same Conference, convened in Cairo, States were asked to approve legal abortion and educational measures to reduce the birth rate. In reality, this request became difficult to resist.
The Argentine philosopher Agustín Laje Arrigoni, in his book "Generación idiota. A critique of adolescent-centrism" states that "gender ideology has thus become a school dogma". This author provides a description of how, against the will of families, and violating their rights, beliefs and values, children are indoctrinated in the name of Comprehensive Sexual Education. The data are unseemly, repulsive. I copy from pages 217-218 of the aforementioned book: "Teachers well trained by the State are obsessed with teaching them to masturbate, to use sex toys, to dress up as drag queens, to practice oral sex, to prepare for anal intercourse, to believe that sexual identity is a concept open to infinite possibilities, to resort to abortion in different ways if they wish, to access hormone blockers and synthetic hormones if they want to change their sex. At the same time that they are told about women's rights, and are lectured against the oppressive patriarchy, they are insisted that biology in no way determines their identity". International organizations such as UNESCO produce manuals to be imposed on States.
