VATICAN CITY — The synod's final document will seek to address
issues concerning all young people and not just those issues facing young men
and women living in Western countries, said members participating in the Synod
of Bishops.
The various speeches and small-group discussions within the synod
process have "enabled us to see the entirety of the many issues that young
people face around the world," Samoan observer Joseph Sapati Moeono-Kolio
said Oct. 23 at a Vatican briefing for journalists.
Throughout the discussions leading up to the synod's final week,
Sapati said, small groups "have been very specific and intentional that we
don't become too Western with our approach."
"Whether or not there will be a Western focus on the
document, we don't know, we haven't read it, it's not fully finished yet. But I
can say for certain that in the process leading up to that, everyone that has
been part of the synod has been very intentional in making sure that that it is
not Eurocentric," he said.
Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told journalists that, as
someone involved in the preparations leading up to the synod, "there was
this sort of attention to the diversity and complexity of contexts so
that" the process would not be "accused again" of being
Eurocentric.
However, he noted, even the small language groups are challenged
in understanding and expressing the issues discussed because "every
language carries a whole world and culture."
"I belong to the English-speaking group. But we came from
different continents and, wow, I realized we were using eight or nine different
types of English," Cardinal Tagle said. "And so, having the label
'English Group D' doesn't mean we understand the same things when we use the
same word. So, there will always be this challenge of finding some sort of common
ground in the midst of diversity."
Congolese Bishop Bienvenu Manamika Bafouakouahou of Dolisie also
confirmed that during the synod discussions, there was "a universality of
themes" that centered on how they affect all young people and not just
those in Europe or farther West.
Discussions, such as those concerning Catholics who identify as
LGBTQ, are not a major issue in Africa compared to Europe, Bishop Manamika
said.
However, the Congolese bishop said the issue of how best to
minister to people in the LGBTQ community "will be more widespread"
in Africa as time goes on and, therefore, will be an important theme to
discuss.
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of La
Civilta Cattolica, told journalists that the increasingly diverse
representation throughout the history of the Synod of Bishops "makes the
conversation between synod fathers richer and more complex" and allows the
church to be able to listen to and "immerse itself in different
cultures."
"An event like the synod," Father Spadaro said,
"becomes almost a miraculous event where people from every part of the
world share the same faith but embody it in different cultural contexts where
they can converge on some issues."