Canonists Warn Synod’s Canon Law Proposals Blur Lines of Church Authority

 Critics say the commission’s recommendations on lay governance, tribunals and infallibility contradict Vatican II; the nonbinding report would require Pope Leo’s approval.

EDWARD PENTIN OCT 13

Pope Leo XIV meets with members of the Circolo di San Pietro at the Vatican on Oct. 12, 2026. A Synod commission’s proposed changes to canon law, which have drawn criticism from canonists, would require papal approval to take effect. (Photo: Matteo Pernaselci / Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY — Several canon lawyers have criticized the final report of a Synod on Synodality commission on canon law, describing several proposed changes as a departure from Catholic doctrine and contrary to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

The commission, whose report was published Sept. 30 by the General Secretariat of the Synod, sought to identify how the theological and ecclesiological insights emerging from the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality could be translated into canonical norms.

According to Dominican priest and canonist Father Pius Pietrzyk, the commission report contains “maybe two decent ideas,” but otherwise ranges from “silly cosmetic changes to a betrayal of the Second Vatican Council and two millennia of ecclesiology.”

Legislative proposals include amendments to 34 canons, including those governing the capacity of lay people to exercise offices, responsibilities and ministries in the Church. Others relate to canons governing councils and bishops’ conferences and propose changes to participatory bodies with the aim of strengthening participation and mission.

Infallibility and the Sensus Fidelium

A key area of contention is the report’s proposal to preface canon 749 on the doctrine of papal infallibility with a reference to the sensus fidelium, or the universal consensus of the People of God.

Borrowing language from Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, the proposed addition states that “the entire body of the Christian faithful, having received the anointing from the Spirit, cannot err in matters of faith, and it manifests this characteristic through the supernatural sense of faith of the whole people when, from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful, its universal consent in matters of faith and morals is demonstrated.”

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