The final session of the Synod – October 2024
The synod, which started three years ago and involved thousands of listening sessions worldwide, Bishops conferences in every country, Continental assemblies and two major sessions in Rome has finished. The final document was produced on October 26th at the end of the final session. It was immediately approved by Pope Francis and is now part of the magisterium of the Church.
The synodal process has attracted intense interest throughout the church. It has raised hopes among many who want to see change and has dashed those hopes when certain items of discussion appear to have been omitted from the agenda for the final meeting. The delegates in Rome has been through a profound learning experience to understand how synodality works and how it will be used in future decision making.
Synodality is not about making bishops obey the will of the people or shouting loudly in order to make your own point of view seem more important. The process is not a public relations exercise and it is not an intellectual game. It is about pastoral transformation. It is about the People of God, ordained and lay, coming to a shared decision after a period of prayer, listening and discernment in obedience to the Holy Spirit. The bishops will make the final decision as the Catholic Church is not a democratic organisation.
Many people will be disappointed that the synod did not propose any dramatic changes. Fr Timothy Radcliffe, now Cardinal, said “The church is undertaking a period of renewal. The final document was never going to be a place for decisions or headline grabbing statements”. The most important thing is to understand that the way of decision making in the church has changed forever as a result of this document, and it is right to have spent so much time on developing the synodal process so that all future decisions will be taken in the light of this new way of working. It includes lay people, men and women, as well as those who are ordained in a forum where listening to each other and to the Holy Spirit with openness and transparency form the basis of decision making. The final document promises that these processes and structures will transform how the church listens, discerns and decides for ever.
Some issues that many people wanted to see discussed were taken off the table for this synod as it was considered much more important to establish the process by which future decisions will be made. The synod has left some issues to be discussed by 10 study groups who will report back to the Pope next year. These include
• Listening to the cry of the poor
• Mission to the digital world
• Women’s ministry and issues concerning LGBTQ+
• Revision of the training of priests and selection of Bishops
• Revision of some aspects of church law for greater transparency and accountability
Pope Francis has said that the synodal church now needs its words to be accompanied by actions. This requires all people, by virtue of their baptism to realise that we are the ‘the People of God’ and to get involved in order to make a difference. We need to take part in ‘conversations with the Spirit’ through prayer, patience and people development. The Pope feels that the issues of women deacons is not yet ready to be addressed, partly because if everything is reduced to ordination, we risk having a very clerical mind-set which is against the Pope’s desire.
The Pope is not an innovator Pope, he is a disruptor Pope. He has dismantled the established pattern of past synods in order to bring the teachings of the second Vatican Council to life. The success of the synod lies in the Pope’s decision to endorse the final document as an essential part of the Church’s teaching rather than issue his own response to the document (i.e. the post synodal exhortation has been omitted.)
To find out more about the synod and read some of the documents on this link https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/tags/7396/synod-on-synodality
Anne Jackson,
Parish Synodal Coordinator.
