Does the Synod want to change doctrine?What is synodality?Keys and risks of a Synod that aims to involve the whole ChurchWith the Final Document of the Synod of Synods, the Synod of Synods ends the synodal journey in which the universal Church has endeavored to recover the inveterate tradition of meeting and exchanging hopes, first in the dioceses or eparchies, then together with all the particular Churches, the episcopal conferences and, finally, in the General Synod of Bishops that has been taking place every two years since the closing of the Second Vatican Council in Rome.
The co-responsibility and the call to feel that we are all Church and the Church of Jesus Christ destined to endure until the end of time, always young and always reforming, to listen to the Holy Spirit and to be docile to his indications and to carry the message of Christian salvation to the last corner of the earth.
Final Document
The final document of the Synod that has just concluded to be published in Italian with date October 26, 2024 recalls, in its first issues, how the Synod in Rome was carried out after two years of intense work and two periods especially dedicated to this task together with the Holy Father.
The fruits of this Synod are expressed in the final document, which will be remembered for its class, depth and masterly exposition that combines the universal aspect of the whole Church with constant references to its application in the particular Churches. It was prepared with a synodal vision and methodology and will have to be brought to fruition in the particular Churches by periodically convening Synods and Provincial Councils, as is required by current law (n. 129).
It has been two years of Synod in Rome which has studied the conclusions of many Synods in the particular Churches and has been resolved by returning to the tradition of the Church of the first millennium, where we walked together the Church in the East and in the West under one Roman Pontiff.
Connection with Vatican II
The Final Document of the Synod that has just ended in Rome is deeply connected with the Second Vatican Council and with the recent magisterium of the Church. From its first numbers, it reflects the spirit of communion of all the particular Churches with the Roman Pontiff and the ecumenical enthusiasm, once again expressed as a plea to the Holy Spirit.
Undoubtedly, synodality has been recovered around the universal call to holiness as proclaimed in the Apostolic Constitution "Lumen Gentium" (n. 11) and that St. John Paul II took up in "Novo Milenio Ineunte" under the statement "the pastoral care of the 20th century would be the pastoral care of holiness" (n.2). Precisely, during the Pontificate of Pope Francis there has been an intense rhythm of beatifications and canonizations and also of beatifications of martyrs of the religious persecutions of the 20th century.
Sources of disclosure
The Document of Synodality is solidly based on the Sources of Revelation handed down to the Magisterium of the Church and renewed in recent years in the theological and university work of the whole world. The constant references to Apostolic Tradition and Sacred Scripture provide the basis for a document that is destined to endure for many years to come. To the theological sources must be added the synodal methodology applied in the diocesan and national phases and also in the classroom of the Synod itself in Rome.
The first thing that is striking about the Final Document of the Synod that has just concluded in Rome is that the Holy Father has taken it as his own, since he has been working on it, discussing it in the synodal hall itself and, with the supreme authority that corresponds to him, he expresses that it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Personal conversion
Immediately, the document expresses the importance of personal conversion in order to be able to elaborate writings and develop the synod sessions. The grace of conversion was necessary in order to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to each of the Synod Fathers. As in the Holy Father's document of convocation of the 25th Jubilee in Rome, the Synod's final document expresses the importance of asking forgiveness for the harm caused to "creation, migrants, the most needy, indigenous peoples, children, women, the sick, and the discarded" (n.6).
In this final document, Pope Francis reminds us that the whole Church, converted synodically, must renew its commitment to the missions and the missionary spirit, even in the first world where we must carry the seed of the Gospel and the proclamation of salvation (n. 11).
Synodality in John Paul II
As is well known, Pope John Paul II in the Encyclical "Ut unum sint" recalled the importance of studying the exercise of the Petrine ministry in the first millennium of Christianity, when there had not been the Eastern Schism of Michael Cerularius of 1054. One of the conclusions of the Congress organized by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to respond to this challenge was to recover the synodality (nn. 18, 28, 31) that in the Orthodox Church had continued to be lived since then, while in the Catholic Church it had remained only for the application of the great councils, Trent or the Second Vatican Council and other occasions foreseen by the Law (n. 129).
Knowing this fact helps to understand the Synod's emphasis on synodality and the ecumenical horizon of which this final document of the Synod is deeply imbued (n. 139).
