A very shrewd observer once remarked that all political power is mechanical. He meant that all political success is the result of human effort, usually strenuous effort, and not something one could count on to occur naturally, like the tides. Political power is only gained or wielded through human effort. What he did not mention is that there are other types of power: that of nature, of course, but also the power of God, which is certainly not “mechanical.” One might even say that all merely human power is really mechanical when it comes down to it.
I have been thinking about this observation a great deal over the past few weeks, as it appears that the meeting of the “Synod on Synodality” in October will be a “crisis” in the original Greek meaning of the word. The past few months and weeks have seen a flurry of activity, from the appointment of Victor Fernández as doctrinal chief in the Vatican to the rumored defenestration of Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and the remarkable warning issued by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, effectively saying that no Catholic must obey any Church official that authorizes the blessing of same-sex couples or women deacons. Read more…