After Pope Francis' surprising announcement that the synodal process underway in the Church has been extended by one more year - in addition to the October 2023 stage, already scheduled, the conclusion will take place in 2024 - this month the continental stage of the synod comes to life, which will last until next March.
The Pontiff considers it necessary to proceed with caution, without haste, so that the many fruits that this process is generating "reach their full maturity". This is, at least, the official motivation, but it also fits perfectly with the correct understanding of this instrument desired almost sixty years ago by St. Paul VI: it is not a parliament, but rather "a moment of grace, a process guided by the Spirit who makes all things new."as Francis recently reminded a group of French pilgrims.
Document for the continental stage
A few days ago, the document for the continental stage was presented to journalists at the Vatican press office, the fruit of the broad consultation of the first phase of the synodal process, in which local communities and episcopal conferences participated.
The text, which is now available to the entire ecclesial community, was drafted at the end of September by a group of more than 50 experts from around the world, gathered at the John XXIII Center in Frascati, a few kilometers from Rome, to prepare a synthesis of the hundreds of documents received by the Secretariat of the Synod. In addition to the episcopal conferences (112 out of 114) and the Eastern Catholic Churches, religious congregations, ecclesial associations and movements and Vatican dicasteries also participated in the first phase of consultation.
Unique and extraordinary experience
Meeting with Pope Francis at the end of this work of synthesis that lasted twelve days and was marked by the method of spiritual conversation, the Cardinal Secretary General of the Synod, Mario Grech, called the experience of "unique and extraordinary"by having made it possible to know "the richness of the fruits that the Spirit is awakening in the Holy People of God"..
Cardinal Grech added: "We will be able to say that the Church offers itself as a home for all, because the experience of synodality that we are living leads us to 'widen the space of the tent' to truly welcome all"..
The work of synthesis that resulted in the document for the continental stage was coordinated by Fr. Giacomo Costa, who heads the preparatory commission, and was co-chaired by Cardinal Grech, as well as by the general rapporteur for the next General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.
Consultation regions
The document will, of course, accompany all the consultation that will take place in the coming months in the major regions of the world. In particular, the subdivision of the different areas of the world foresees assemblies for North America, Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM), Europe (CCEE), Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the Middle East - which will have the contribution of the Eastern Catholic Churches in particular - Asia (FABC) and Oceania (FCBCO).
The Secretariat has envisioned the whole process as a continuous exchange from the universal Church to the particular Church and back again through reflection in the various continents. It is also intended to generalize a constant flow that can be consolidated through the creation or consolidation of links between neighboring Churches and between Churches in specific regions.
It was Cardinal Grech himself who explained this dynamic at a meeting a few months ago, stating that. "to understand the synodal process we must think of a fruitful circularity of prophecy and discernment". which is operationally supported by the "restitution to the churches" of everything that has come to Rome from them.
In short, this continental phase will be characterized by discernment - on the basis of the working document prepared by the committee of experts - on what has emerged from the previous consultations: it is a matter of carefully formulating the open questions, as well as demonstrating and clarifying the perceptions and the overall vision, while still listening to those realities that were not integrated in the previous phase. In any case, there will be no suggestions for answers or decisions on courses of action, which will instead be referred to the broader discussion at the General Assemblies of 2023 and 2024.
60 years of the Council
Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Vatican Council II by his predecessor St. John XXIII, Pope Francis emphasized the aspect of unity in spite of diversity that must characterize the Church's journey of this era and of the near future, an essentially synodal journey that finds its roots precisely in that dynamism of the last century.
"A Church in love with Jesus has no time for confrontation, poisoning and polemics."Pope Francis said in his homily of October 11, and added: "God forbid we should be critical and intolerant, bitter and angry.". Obviously, it is not just a question of style, "but of love, for he who loves, as the apostle Paul teaches, does all things without murmuring.".
Finally, he added: "that the Church be inhabited by joy. If she does not rejoice, she denies herself, because she forgets the love that created her. Yet how many of us do not live the faith with joy, without murmuring and without criticism?".
An excellent warning precisely for the subsequent stage of the synodal process that is beginning, which rather wants to encourage us to be participants and to discern rather than to occupy spaces or positions or even to raise objections that clash with those of our own. suggestions of the Holy Spirit.
Upcoming events of the Pontiff
In this month of November there will be several appointments in which Pope Francis will participate. It begins with the Apostolic Journey to the Kingdom of Bahrainfrom November 3 to 6, visiting the cities of Manama and Awali on the occasion of the Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistencewith an immediate reference to the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace signed in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019 by the Pontiff and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb.
On November 13, Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the occasion of the sixth World Day of the Poor, which he instituted at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy. In the message written for the occasion, the Holy Father had also referred to the many forms of poverty caused by the "poverty of the poor".meaninglessness of war".The company's activities in Ukraine, which has been generating uncertainty and precariousness, with special reference to the conflict in Ukraine, have been "to join the regional wars that in these years are reaping death and destruction.".
