Does the Synod want to change doctrine?Keys and risks of a Synod that aims to involve the whole ChurchWhat is synodality?After more than three years of Synod of synodality, of listening, and one year since the conclusion of the first SessionThe Synodal Assembly of this October concluded the work of its second Session with a Final document voted by more than two thirds of the participants. The concluding Mass, presided over by the Roman Pontiff, will take place in St. Peter's Square this Sunday, the 27th.
The text develops a Church experience in which the synodal process does not end, but continues with the local Churches at the center of the mission and, as the official Vatican agency pointed out, "with all the structures at the service, precisely, of the mission with the laity more and more at the center".
Pope Francis, who yesterday presided over a Te Deum of thanksgiving and imparted the Blessing to the members of the Synod, has decided that the final Document, without waiting for an Apostolic Exhortation, be disseminated immediately so that it can inspire the life of the Church. "The synodal process does not end with the end of the Assembly, but includes the phase of implementation."
Point 9: "missionaries of synodality".
Due to its relevance, as it is also cited in the explanatory briefing, point 9 of the Document is transcribed below in Spanish:
"9. The synodal process does not end with the end of the current Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, but includes the implementation phase. As members of the Assembly, we feel it is our task to engage in its animation as missionaries of synodality within the communities from which we come.
We ask all the local Churches to continue their daily journey with a synodal methodology of consultation and discernment, identifying concrete paths and formative itineraries for a tangible synodal conversion in the various ecclesial realities (Parishes, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Aggregations of the Faithful, Dioceses, Episcopal Conferences, groups of Churches, etc.).
Provision should also be made for an evaluation of the progress made in the area of synodality and the participation of all the baptized in the life of the Church. We suggest that Episcopal Conferences and Synods of Churches sui iuris dedicate persons and resources to accompany the journey of growth as a synodal Church in mission and to maintain contact with the General Secretariat of the Synod. We ask you to continue to ensure the synodal quality of the working method of the Study Groups".
"A banquet for all peoples".
The final Document, as noted, consists of 155 points, divided into an introduction of 12 paragraphs; 5 parts; and a conclusion, entitled 'A banquet for all peoples'. This is a few points more than the 112 points of the Instrumentum Laboris.
Part I is entitled 'The Heart of Synodality', and refers, among other topics, to the call of the Holy Spirit to conversion, to the Church as the People of God or to unity as harmony. Part II, 'Together in the Boat', deals with 'new relationships', 'charisms, vocations and ministries for mission', and 'together for mission'.
Part III, 'Casting the net', refers, among other aspects, to 'ecclesial discernment for mission', 'The articulation of decision-making processes', or 'Transparency, accountability, evaluation'.
Part IV, 'An Abundant Catch', includes 'Sharing Gifts', 'Bonds of Unity: Episcopal Conferences and Ecclesial Assemblies', and 'The Service of the Bishop of Rome'. And Part V, 'I also send you', refers to 'Forming a people of missionary disciples'.
Diaconate of women and other issues: "pauses, silence, prayer".
Point 60 of Part II of the Document refers in its entirety to women, and Pope Francis has referred to the question of their diaconate in his speech to the members of the Synod, without expressly mentioning it, before the Blessing. This is a topic that was the object of pressure during the Synod, and also of numerous questions in the daily briefings with the media, such as has reported Omnes.
The Pope said yesterday: "On some aspects of the life of the Church indicated in the Document, as well as on the themes entrusted to the ten study groups, so that they can offer me proposals in a free work, time is needed in order to arrive at choices that involve the whole Church. I will continue to listen to the bishops and the Churches entrusted to them".
And then he added: "This is not a classic way of postponing decisions ad infinitum; it is what corresponds to the synodal style, in which the Petrine ministry is also exercised: listening, summoning, discerning, deciding and evaluating. And in these steps, pauses, silences and prayer are necessary. It is a style that we are learning together. Little by little. The Holy Spirit calls us and keeps us in this apprenticeship, which we must understand as a process of conversion. The General Secretariat of the Synod and all the dicasteries of the Curia will help me in this task".
"Harmony. "A gift for all the People of God".
The Holy Father also spoke of the Synod as a gift. "Everything that was experienced in the Synodal Assembly is a gift of the Spirit. He is the one who creates harmony, He is harmony, and I hope that harmony will continue to emerge from this Hall, and that the breath of the Risen Lord will help us to share the gifts we have received.
"What we have experienced is a gift for all God's faithful people, in the variety of their expressions. Not everyone will read it; it will be above all you, together with so many others, who will make its contents accessible in the local churches".
"We cannot keep it just for ourselves," he added at another point. "The impulse that comes from this experience, of which the Final Document is a reflection, gives us the courage to witness that it is possible to walk together in diversity, a point he has also emphasized on other occasions in this synodal process, "without condemning one another."
"In the Document there are very concrete indications that can be a guide for the mission of the Church in the different continents," the Pope said. "That is why I make it immediately available to everyone and there is no need for an 'Apostolic Exhortation'," he stressed.
Acceptance of the Final Document
"There is a poem by Madeleine Delbrel, the mystic of the peripheries, who exhorted us above all not to be rigid. Rigidity is a sin that so often enters into the clerics, the consecrated, the consecrated", Francis continued.
"Make us live our life as an endless feast, where the encounter with you is renewed, like a dance, like a dance, in the arms of your grace, with the universal music of love," wrote Madeleine Delbrel.
"Decisions will have to be made."
"These verses can become the background music to welcome the Final Document. And now, in the light of what has emerged from the Synodal journey, decisions must and will have to be made. In this time of wars, we must be witnesses of peace, learning also to give real form to the coexistence of differences".
Therefore, I do not intend to publish an Apostolic Exhortation. It is enough with what we have approved. In the Document there are very concrete indications that can be a guide for the mission of the Churches, he reiterated, in the different continents, in the different contexts. For this reason, I now place it at the disposal of all". (Applause). "In this way I wish to acknowledge the value of the Synodal journey which has been accomplished, which with this Document I hand over to the holy and faithful People of God".
"Witnessing to the Gospel. Practicing listening."
"The Risen Lord calls us to be witnesses of his Gospel, first with our lives and then with our words. The Document on which we have expressed our vow is a triple gift. A gift for me, Bishop of Rome, who, in calling the Church of God to Synod, was aware that I needed you, bishops and witnesses of the Synodal journey. Thank you.
"For even the Bishop of Rome, as I often remind myself and you, needs to practice listening. Indeed, he wants to practice listening in order to be able to respond to the Word, which is repeated to him every day: "Confirm your brothers and sisters, feed my sheep".
"My task, as you well know, is to guard and promote, as St. Basil teaches us, the harmony that the Spirit continues to spread in the Church of God, in the relations between the Churches, notwithstanding all the efforts, tensions and divisions that characterize their journey towards the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God."
"A banquet prepared by God for everyone, everyone, everyone."
"May the vision of the prophet Isaiah invite us to imagine how a banquet prepared by God for all peoples, all, with the hope that no one is missing, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone. None outside, all", the Pope concluded.
And the key word is this: harmony, what the Spirit does from the first strong manifestation on the morning of Pentecost, is to harmonize all these differences, all these languages, all these things, harmony. This is what the Second Vatican Council teaches, when it says that the Church is like a sacrament, it is a sign and instrument of the waiting of God, who has already prepared the table, and is waiting.
"Amplify the whisper of the Holy Spirit, without creating walls."
His grace, through his Spirit, whispers words of love in the heart of each one of us. It is granted to us to amplify the voice of this whisper, without hindering it, so that we may open doors, without building walls. How much harm the men and women of the Church do when they build walls. We must not behave like dispensers of grace who appropriate the treasure by tying the hands of the merciful God.
Remember that we began this Synodal Assembly asking for forgiveness, feeling shame, recognizing that we have all been merciful.
There is a poem by Madeleine Delbrel, the mystic of the peripheries, who exhorted us above all not to be rigid. Rigidity is a sin that so often enters into the clerics, the consecrated, the consecrated". "Make us live our life as an endless feast, where the encounter with you is renewed, like a dance, like a dance, in the arms of your grace, with the universal music of love," wrote Madeleine Delbrel.
"Witnesses of peace, let words be accompanied by deeds."
"These verses can become the background music to welcome the Final Document. And now, in the light of what has emerged from the Synodal journey, there are and will be decisions to be made. in this time of wars, we must be witnesses of peace, learning also to give real form to the coexistence of differences".
"We come from all parts of the world, marked by violence, poverty, indifference, Pope Francis recalled, but all together, with the hope that does not disappoint, united in the love of God poured into our hearts, the Pontiff indicated, we can not only dream of peace but commit ourselves with all our strength so that, perhaps without so much talk of synodality, peace may be realized through processes of listening, dialogue and reconciliation. The synodal Church for mission now needs that the words shared be accompanied by deeds".
"Communion of Churches that walk and live".
When Cardinals Mario Grech, Secretary General, and Jean-Claude Hollerich, General Rapporteur, together with Secretaries Ricardo Battocchio and Giacomo Costa SJ, appeared, almost everything had been said by the Pope.
At the end, Cardinal Grech's answer to a question referred to point 134, concerning the exercise of the Petrine ministry in a synodal key, and Father Costa spoke of a "communion of Churches that, together, walk and live". See the Document.
The Archbishop of Valladolid, Monsignor Luis Arguello, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, who has been at the Synod, stated that "the synodal process marks a before and an after in the Church. These are big words, and the diagnosis is shared by several participants in the briefings of the Vatican Press Room.
Because the impression is that the initial "consultative" Synod of October 2 has become something of greater significance. Time will tell.
