A Dutch bishop has charged that the process of preparation for the Synod on Synodality has become “a megaphone for non-Church views” and a forum for “an evaporated faith, no longer practiced and not accepting the Church’s positions.”

Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, an auxiliary of the Diocese of Hertogenbosch (more commonly known as Den Bosch), said that the Synod process “is more like a sociological experiment” than a movement of the Holy Spirit. He said that he was aware of other prelates, including cardinals, who had questioned the process—and even questioned the meaning of the term “synodality,” which has been so commonly used to describe both the process and its goal.

“One thing is clear to me,” Bishop Mutsaerts said. “God is out of the picture in this vile synodal process. The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with it.”