The Synod of the Family began on Sunday. We read that the Synod’s rule changes this year are unacceptable, thanks to Rorate Caeli. I can only think of three possibilities for the outcome of this Synod. I will present these options in terms of most positive, to most negative.

Option One: Pope Francis, in a moment given the protection of the Holy Spirit, will uphold Church doctrine and teaching, and state that Holy Communion can not be given to the divorced, remarried, and actively homosexual. Pope Francis will declare that those who oppose those are heretics and are effectively excommunicated due to their desire to change Church teaching. Finally, he has been inviting those in favor of derailing the Synod as a means to publicly excommunicate them.

Option Two: Pope Francis and the Synod will agree that the decision is up to either the local bishops on a diocese by diocese basis or will allow the local bishops’ conference to determine how they will administer the sacraments. In this scenario, we will likely see essentially the practice of Holy Communion administered to the divorced, remarried, and actively homosexual. While the documents released by the Synod will be read from a traditional standpoint to mean that the aforementioned can not receive Communion, it will be written in language that those on the other side of the issue will be able to easily take out of context, much like every Church document administered from the Second Vatican Council up through today.

Option Three: Pope Francis and the Synod will declare and decree that every single divorced, remarried and actively homosexual individual may present themselves to Holy Communion without the need for repentance, and will thus change Church teaching that only those who are in the state of grace may receive Our Eucharistic Lord. This will essentially mean that the Pope, as well as the majority of the prelates at the Synod, are indeed heretics and are no longer a part of the Catholic Church.

In all honesty, I truly hope we see Option One. Though, to be realistic, it is far more likely that we will see Option Two or even Option Three. I believe there is a chance Option Three will happen because I believe that there are still a number of Catholics who will recognize the error. Likewise, there are still a number of priests, bishops, and even Cardinals, who will actively resist Option Three and declare the Pope and those prelates in favor of this as schismatic. There will be enough opposition that a legitimate case for questioning if Pope Francis is now an Anti-Pope for declaring non-Catholic teaching as doctrine from the throne.

I see that Option Two is much more likely to happen, simply because those who want to administer Holy Communion to adulterers and actively homosexual, will be able to through a liberal reading of the documents. Meanwhile, those who will actively refuse this reading will accuse the Synod of intentionally allowing this evil to occur. Thus what we will see is those who adhere to the “traditional view” (read: Catholic) will be accused of going the way of the SSPX and causing schism, when the reality simply is that Rome has condoned the practice by not condemning it, all for appearing to be “pastoral”.

Hopefully, we will see Option One, but I’m not going to hold my breath.