Rightwing Voices

Cardinal Grech Under Fire: A Prominent Cardinal Calls for Him to Take a “Long Vacation”

Cardinal Mario Grech is facing criticism over his work on the Synod. Cardinal Joseph Zen has called on Pope Leo XIV to send Grech and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich on a “long vacation”. Yet the sharpest demand is directed at Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, whom Zen wants removed as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Zen’s criticism centres on what he regards as hidden agendas concerning homosexuality, women’s ordination and clerical celibacy, which he associates with the synodal process. (lifesitenews.com⁠)

In my reading, the underlying conflict concerns more than the concept of the Synod itself. It also concerns the doctrinal changes that its critics believe are being promoted through it. Opposition to those perceived changes should be distinguished from opposition to synodality as a form of Church government.

The issue here is that Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is an Augustinian. His approach to synodality can be understood within an Augustinian tradition of collective episcopal deliberation, communion and reference to Rome. Augustine did not invent synods, but his involvement in the African councils offers an important historical example of that relationship.

Leo’s recent reform concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches illustrates how synodal responsibility can coexist with papal authority. On 29 August 2026, he granted their synods the power to remove their patriarchs for grave reasons through an established procedure. This concerns the very person who leads the Church, not merely ordinary administrative matters. Nevertheless, the synod’s decision requires the Pope’s assent. (vaticannews.va⁠)

Thus, synodality as a concept has Pope Leo’s support. He has explicitly encouraged the continuation of the synodal process. My interpretation is that his Augustinian background helps explain this commitment: bishops share responsibility, while Rome retains its role in safeguarding ecclesial unity. (vatican.va⁠)

Augustine’s response to the Pelagian controversy illustrates this relationship. After two African councils had referred the matter to the Apostolic See and replies had arrived, he declared that the case was concluded, while expressing the hope that the error would also end. His words were later condensed into the familiar formula: Roma locuta, causa finita est—“Rome has spoken; the case is closed.” This captures the finality he attributed to judgments issued by Rome.

LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, in a blog post last week, reflecting on the fruits of the Second Vatican Council, called on Pope Leo XIV to put a stop to the Synod on Synodality and condemned the initiative’s “hidden agendas” on LGBT ideology, female “ordination,” and clerical celibacy.

In his blog post, translated into English on November 6, Zen argued that the Second Vatican Council has not been sufficiently fruitful, namely because it is under “constant attack” by those trying to use it to justify reforms contrary to the faith. Turning specifically to the Synod, he slammed the process and the “hidden agendas” lying behind it, such as allowing the “ordination” of women via Holy Orders, allowing Roman clerics to choose not to be celibate, and “updating” sexual morality “under the ‘L.G.B.T.Q. banner.’”

Zen called on Pope Leo to put an end to the Synod on Synodality and these hidden agendas, as well as sending Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., who was the General Relator of the Synod, on a “long vacation,” and remove Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“After all these years of the synodal process, they have failed to get their ‘hidden agendas’ (in fact, not so ‘hidden’) fulfilled,” Cardinal Zen wrote. “There was relentless manipulation and strict control of the process, yet it was a failure. Despite every effort to stifle genuine discussion, the objectives that the Pope evidently entrusted to the Synod Secretariat were not achieved.”

“Even within the limited time for free speech in the assembly, it was evident: that Synod members rejected those objectives: changing the hierarchical constitution of the Church, ordaining women to the priesthood starting with the diaconate, the free choice of celibacy for the Roman clergy, and the sexual morality radically ‘updated’ (?) under the L.G.B.T.Q. banner,” he added.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered.” The Catechismis very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “(h)omosexual persons are called to chastity.” Homosexual acts are mortal sins; therefore, anyone who commits these sins and does not repent through the sacrament of Confession is in danger of Hell.

On female “ordination,” in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching that it is impossible for women to validly receive the sacrament of Holy Orders:

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.

The Roman rite of the Catholic Church has also traditionally required clergy to live in celibacy in order to completely dedicate themselves to Our Lord and the Church.

In union with the great ecclesial Tradition, with the Second Vatican Council and my Predecessors in the Petrine Ministry, I affirm the beauty and the importance of a priestly life lived in celibacy as an expressive sign of total and exclusive dedication to Christ, to the Church and to the Kingdom of God, and consequently confirm its obligatory character for the Latin tradition (n. 24).

Cardinal Zen, highlighted how the “cause of homosexuals” has been especially promoted since the start of the synodal process, citing the 2023 promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans, which endorses the spontaneous “blessing” of homosexual “couples,” Pope Francis showing special favor to Father James Martin, S.J., and, more recently, the publication of the final report of Study Group 9, which scandalously endorses testimony claiming that “sin, at its root, does not consist in the (same-sex) couple relationship.”

“And recently, something has happened which made us realize, to our horror, that the whole lengthy discourse on the synodal process is intended to provide a tool for justifying anything,” His Eminence wrote.

“At the end of Section D, we mentioned ‘study groups.’ Now, the final report of Group 9 has been published, in which assuming (arbitrarily) that the synodal method is sacrosanct when it comes to the study of homosexuality, they reached the conclusion that the sexual act between a homosexual couple is a gift from God!?” he added. “Is this not blasphemy? It is incredible that such a thing could appear in a publication issued by the Holy See!”

Zen stressed that the homosexual agenda promoted in the Study Group 9 document was particularly egregious, since our passions are among the greatest enemies of our eternal salvation and slammed the synod’s ignoring the importance of the Church’s bishops.

 The enemies of God, the three enemies of our salvation are: our passions, the world and the devil. But where does the destruction of God in souls begin? Precisely with this deviation from sexual morality! For concupiscence lies within our flesh, and when indulged, it becomes an addiction, causing us to lose the power of the will. That is why even the devil says that the most important thing is to destroy the family.

Moreover, it is not true that we insist solely on sexual morality; the question of the Church’s hierarchical structure is far more fundamental today. Jesus founded the Church upon the apostles, with Peter as their head. Now the Church must be guided by the bishops, with the Pope at their head. But the entire course of the recent synod on synodality ignores the importance of the bishops; it is no longer a true synod. By emphasizing the etymological meaning of the word “synodality” as “traveling together” or “participation”, the significance of the historical reality of synods has been sidelined: synods and councils of bishops within the Church, and the synod presided over by the bishop within the diocese.

Toward the end of his post, Zen noted that in this confusing age where people across the world are clamoring for meaning, the Church should promote the entirety of its doctrine rather than attempt to accommodate the world. The cardinal called on Pope Leo to end the synod and remove Cardinal Grech, who published the synod Study Group 9 report, Cardinal Hollerich, and Cardinal Fernández, whose dicastery promulgated Fiducia Supplicans.

“Let us put a stop to this so-called ‘Synod on Synodality’! May the Holy Father grant Cardinal Grech and Cardinal Hollerich a long vacation; he cannot entrust the governance of the Church to the Secretariat for the Synods; on the other hand, closer communion between the bishops and the Pope, between the cardinals and the Pope, is most welcome,” he wrote.

“The Holy Father should also replace the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” he added. “It is well known that this cardinal has written things in the past that he would not write today.”

Here, Zen appears to refer to several of Fernández’s pornographic writings unearthed in recent years, such as his 1995 book titled Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing. Another explicit book written by the future prefect in 1998, titled Mystical Passion: spirituality and sensuality, which discusses how “particularities of men and women in orgasm also occur in some way in the mystical relationship with God” and downplays the immoral nature of homosexuality, was also rediscovered.

Zen concluded by imploring the faithful to pray for Pope Leo as he undertakes the “arduous task” of dealing with the Synod.

“Of course, we must pray intensely for the Holy Father; only Almighty God can grant him the steadfastness and prudence he needs,” the cardinal wrote. “May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth.”

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