VATICAN: Synod on Synodality to be Conducted in Two Sessions: 2023, 2024, says Pope Francis
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Following the ongoing synodal process that was expected to culminate next year October in Rome, Pope Francis has extended the period suggesting for two sessions to be held in October 2023 and October 2024 respectively.
In his Angelus Address on Sunday, October 16, the Holy Father noted that the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which was officially launched on 10 October last year, needs “a more relaxed period of discernment.”
“The fruits of the synodal process under way are many, but so that they might come to full maturity, it is necessary not to be in a rush,” the Pope said while addressing congregants on Sunday and continued, “I have established that this Synodal Assembly will take place in two sessions.”
The two sessions to be conducted from 4 to 29 October 2023, and the second in October of 2024 will come after the three tier synodal paths to be followed for preparations.
The Diocesan phase which is to be a time of listening to the Holy Spirit and to the Scriptures… consultation and participation of the People of God,” through the use of two working instruments; the preparatory document and handbook (Vademecum) already availed by the General Secretariat of the Synod to guide the Local Churches, and for “Greater involvement of lay people in a decision-making process that affects the whole Church and everyone in the Church.” the continental phase aimed “to engage in a dialogue with the Instrumentum laboris,” and then the Universal phase which will mark “the celebration of the General Assembly of Bishops in Rome, presided over by the Bishop of Rome.”
“I trust that this decision will promote the understanding of synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church, and help everyone to live it as the journey of brothers and sisters who proclaim the joy of the Gospel,” the Pope said in his Sunday message.
The Synod theme, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” Pope Francis through the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) announced the Synod of bishops and asked for active participation that “no one should feel excluded from this ecclesial journey.”
The Synod calls for journeying together through mutual listening to the Holy Spirit at every level of the Church’s life oriented towards evangelization.
