The picture of Cardinal Mario Grech addressing Pope Francis at the Consistory at St Peter’s Basilica mesmerised many of us. The event itself was surreal. A bishop from one of the smallest dioceses in the world not only became a cardinal but was also given the task to address the pope on behalf of the Church.

In such situations there is always the danger of missing the wood for the trees. Some commented about the new cardinal’s words, delivered with great passion and commitment, as if he said something totally new for the Church.

He didn’t. His was not a new agenda for the Church. In fact, the Church has been trying to grapple with synodality throughout its very long existence but more so since the end of Vatican II.

Cardinal Grech’s oration brought back to life a discussion in danger of going stale and offered Pope Francis his full collaboration to prepare for the next Synod of the Bishops in 2022 in Rome on this very theme.

Last year, Pope Francis addressed the Doctrine of Faith Theological Commission and presented synodality as an ecclesial journey that has a soul that is the Holy Spirit. It involves all baptised in discerning God’s will and listening to the Holy Spirit. A journey that does not only include people in decision making but in the discernment process itself.

Back to 1999, on June 18, the late Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster, addressed the USA Bishops’ Conference. He expressed his dissatisfaction about the lack of consultation with local bishops and the unwillingness for a genuine dialogue between Rome and the local churches. He told them that “he was constantly being urged to suppress this group or that, drive out this lot or that from the Church. I do not believe that is right. I believe that as a bishop I have to try to lead people from where they are to where they never dreamt they might go.”

Before the end of Paul VI’s pontificate,  Cardinal Hume and several other bishops, including the late archbishop Derek Worlock of Liverpool, were working with groups of lay people on institutional reforms needed in the Church, which would eventually lead to the decentralisation of the Roman Curia.

Bishop Mario Grech’s vision of the Church went well beyond the confines of his diocese- Salvu Felice Pace

I was secretary of one of these groups for a while. We met regularly, sometimes at remote venues as the press got rather curious about what was going on. The election of St John Paul II in 1978 completely changed the scenario. It is good to remember that Cardinal Hume’s outburst occurred 20 years into that pontificate, a time when Woytyla’s grip on the Curia had started to wane.

On February 22, 2004, The Sunday Times of Malta published an article I wrote entitled ‘Decentralising the Catholic Church’. Soon that article was translated into different languages. Something unexpected happened the day after it was published. A man I had known since I settled in Gozo for more than a decade shouted at the top of his voice from one side of the main road in Victoria: “Ħalli l-Knisja fil-kwiet” (leave the Church alone).

The incident shook me. He obviously wanted the Church to stay in her comfort zone while I wanted a Church that walked with the people irrespective of the risks. Bishop Grech entered the scene in November 2005. I introduced myself to him and the first thing he told me was that he has got to learn how to be a bishop.

He gave me some comments about his chosen motto and with his permission I put them in my column in Il-Mument. The more I met him the more I understood about his vision of Church; it went well beyond the confines of his diocese.

The internationally known Vatican commentator John L. Allen wrote in 2015 that when Pope Francis referred to “intermediate types of collegiality” during the synod that same year he was using a code for the decentralisation of the Church. And, as an example, he mentioned Pope Francis’s permission to local bishops to deal with the plight of Catholic divorcees on a case by case basis.

We are very blessed that all our bishops in Malta and Gozo walk with us. Bishop Grech certainly walked with me and the man who strongly objected to my article also walked the journey with Bishop Grech.

Salvu Felice Pace is a freelance columnist.