VATICAN: Vatican Announces Synodal Implementation Phase Process
By Sr. Henriette Anne, FSSA
On Saturday, March 15 2025, the Vatican press announced the synodal implementation phase focusing on deepening the synodal journey that already begun, ensuring that the principles articulated in the Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops are fully integrated into the life of local Churches rather than convening a new synod.
“This process calls upon Dioceses and Eparchies, Episcopal Conferences, and the hierarchical structures of the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as their continental groupings. They will be responsible for engaging institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, lay associations, ecclesial movements, and new communities present in their territories. It will ultimately culminate in the celebration of an ecclesial assembly in the Vatican in October 2028. For now, therefore, a new Synod will not be convened; instead, the focus will be on consolidating the path taken so far”.
The Holy Father has stressed that this phase is not merely an application of directives but a process of allowing the local Churches to implement the Synod decisions aligned with their specific cultural and pastoral context, and that implementation will be harmonized across the global Church to maintain unity.
“The local Churches and groupings of Churches are now called upon to implement, in their different contexts, the authoritative proposals contained in the Document through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided for by law and by the Document itself”.
In the letter on the accompaniment process of the implementation phase of the Synod, Pope Francis noted that the “implementation phase of the Synod should be understood not as merely the application of directives from above, but rather as a process of reception of the orientations expressed in the Final Document”.
Furthermore, Pope Francis said that the synodal teams composed of clergy, religious, and lay people will facilitate ongoing dialogue and ensure that the fruits of the previous phases are marked by listening, and the process will also offer dioceses that have invested less in the synodal path an opportunity to recover the steps not yet taken and to form their own synodal teams.
“The process will rely on the work of synodal teams composed of priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, laymen and laywomen, accompanied by their bishop: these are fundamental tools for accompanying the ordinary synodal life of local Churches. For this reason, existing teams should be valued and possibly renewed, idle teams should be reactivated and appropriately integrated”, “This process will also offer Dioceses that have invested less in the synodal path an opportunity to recover the steps not yet taken and to form their own synodal teams”.
He added that the most important thing in the process is to ensure that the implementation phase serve as an opportunity to re-engage the people who have contributed and to present the fruits gathered from listening to all the Churches and the discernment of the Pastors in the Synodal Assembly, and it will also be an opportunity to evaluate together the choices made at the local level and recognize the progress made in terms of synodality.
