Experiment in the Church: why in Italy godfathers and godmothers are suspended in baptisms

The dioceses of all Italy adapt to the experimentation decided by the Italian Episcopal Conference that

the figures of the godfather and godmother in baptisms and confirmations.

There are many who have set the beginning of the exclusion in June or July, others have already begun.

Many dioceses in the Piedmont, Tuscany, Emilia, Sicily and Veneto regions are the ones that have led the way for this reform.

The vaticanista of the newspaper "Il Messaggero" highlighted that in the baptisms celebrated by the Pope in the Sistine Chapel on the day of the Epiphany, there

The emeritus bishop of Trapani, Domenico Mogavero, said the role of the godfather in the two sacraments of baptism and confirmation

Baptisms, without godparents in Italy for three years.

Photo: archive

The reasons

Godfathers and godmothers have the mission of

and teaching them the stages of faith together with their parents.

This does not occur

in the vast majority of cases, in which the presence of godfathers and godmothers ends after the baptism and confirmation ceremony as

The experience of suspending their presence at baptismal and confirmation ceremonies for three years was announced by the Archdiocese of Genoa, which will put the new system into operation from the next pastoral year, starting in December.

witnesses

It establishes that if the families indicate people willing to have an

they will be allowed to participate in the celebrations

of the Sacramental Rite.

In the registry of baptisms, the elect will be registered

The orientation of the Episcopal Conference, whose president the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is considered a

to Francis in the papacy, is to stimulate a half-revolution in the Italian Church, besieged by the growing process of secularization that is growing in societies of all the world.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.

Photo: Clarín archive

In Gubbio, Bishop Luciano Paolucci Bedini maintains that the changes point to "the new season of evangelization with a view to the Jubilee year of 2025."

Cuts and epochal changes in the diocese, promise the measures of the bishop of Gubbio, the birthplace in central Italy of

Arturo Frondizi, who in the 50-60s was sometimes called Machiavelli and sometimes "the man of Gubbio”.

The changes projected by the bishop foresee activating parish groups in charge of developing guidelines.

For example, to recover Sunday "which should not be considered a festivity with the single mass of the day but rather consider that Sunday is the day par excellence for Christians, a moment of meeting and familiarity".

Refresh the face of the Church

The changes that dioceses like those of Gubbio push

.

In the ceremonies of the sacraments, for example,

The traditional catechism will be partly replaced with the extension of the activity in the oratories, understood as places of meeting and collective participation.

Bishop Paolucci Bedini, in line with other Italian bishops, believes that

but with more participation and life, with groups and other activities.

“We have to put the family at the center, activate listening centers and Catholic inspiration.

Giving strength and awareness to the

in the face of the

.

The Archbishop of Palermo, Monsignor Corrado Lorefice, announced last week with a decree the suspension

of the roles of godfather and godmother in the baptism of the bambinos and the confirmation of adolescents.

"Social conventions and consolidated customs have compromised the meaning of these roles exercised in the name and by mandate of the Church."

Monsignor Lorefice criticized the reduction of the religious baptism ceremony to "

", compromising its authentic meaning.

The Pope Bishop of Rome and

is about to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his pontificate on Monday.

The debates and renewals have his support in a year that is complicated by clashes with the most conservative and traditional sectors.

Pope Francis, during the Angelus, this Sunday in San Pedro.

Photo: Reuters

will begin in October,

dealing with the problems, conflicts and challenges of the Church.

In order to release the tensions in a long period of time, the Synod will not end this year.

It will be complemented by a second part in 2024. It repeats the style of the Synod on the Family, which took place in two stages in 2014 and 2015.

Regarding baptisms, at the ceremony in which he baptized 13 girls and boys in the Sistine Chapel (without godparents) last Wednesday, he said that the sacrament was very important because it should be considered "a new birthday" since it means " the rebirth of the Christian life”.

The ceremony, laden with rites, recalled the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River.

Vatican correspondent

ap​

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