What you need to know about the synod’s final document

What you need to know about the synod’s final document

Bishops fill St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops on synodality Oct. 27, 2024. ROY LAGARDE/CBCP NEWS

By Felipe Salvosa II

October 29, 2024

VATICAN— Pope Francis has decided to forego writing a post-synodal apostolic exhortation following the Synod on Synodality. Rather than issue a new magisterial document, the pope gave the synod’s final document magisterial value, a synod official said in a press briefing on Oct. 26.

Msgr. Riccardo Battocchio, rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica, Rome’s oldest seminary and president of the Italian Theological Association, said this adheres to Episcopalis communio, the apostolic constitution that reformed the Synod of Bishops.

The 2018 rules indicate that “if the Pope expressly approves it, the document is part of his magisterium—not as a binding norm, but as a set of guiding principles,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

Cardinal-designate Pablo Virgilio David, recently elected member of the synod’s ordinary council, said the document takes inspiration from the Gospels’ Resurrection narratives.

The 52-page document is divided into five parts and contains a total of 155 paragraphs, all of which mustered the required two-thirds vote of 355 synod members.

Here are some highlights of the final document:

Paragraph 27: Deepening the link between liturgy and synodality will help all Christian communities, in the diversity of their cultures and traditions, to adopt celebratory styles that make visible the face of a synodal Church. To this end, we call for the establishment of a specific Study Group to which would be entrusted reflection on how to make liturgical celebrations more an expression of synodality.

Paragraph 28: “Synodality is the walking together of Christians with Christ and towards God’s Kingdom, in union with all humanity. Orientated towards mission, synodality involves gathering at all levels of the Church for mutual listening, dialogue, and community discernment. It also involves reaching consensus as an expression of Christ rendering Himself present, He who is alive in the Spirit.

Furthermore, it consists in reaching decisions according to a differentiated understanding of co-responsibility … In simple and concise terms, synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the Church to be more participatory and missionary, so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ.”

Paragraph 42: “The plurality of religions and cultures, the diversity of spiritual and theological traditions, the variety of the gifts of the Spirit and of the tasks of the community, as well as the diversity of age, sex and social affiliation within the Church, are an invitation to each person to confront his or her own unconscious bias, resist the temptation of being at the centre, and open oneself to the acceptance of other perspectives.”

Paragraph 50: “Many participants were delighted and surprised to be asked to join this journey and to be given the opportunity to have their voice heard in the community. Unfortunately, others continued to experience the pain of feeling excluded or judged because of their marital situation, identity or sexuality. The desire for more real and meaningful relationships is not only an authentic longing to belong to a close-knit group, but may also reflect a deep sense of faith.”

Paragraph 52: “We bear witness to the Gospel when we seek to live in relationships that respect the equal dignity and reciprocity between men and women. The widely expressed pain and suffering on the part of many women from every region and continent, both lay and consecrated, during the synodal process, reveal how often we fail to live up to this vision.”

Paragraph 60: “This Assembly asks for full implementation of all the opportunities already provided for in Canon Law with regard to the role of women, particularly in those places where they remain under-explored. There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Additionally, the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open. This discernment needs to continue.”

Paragraph 70: “A bishop’s service is a service in, with and for the community. It is carried out through the proclamation of the Word and by presiding over the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments. This is why the Synodal Assembly desires that the People of God have a greater voice in choosing bishops. It also recommends that the ordination of a bishop should take place in the diocese to which he is destined as pastor, and not in his home diocese, as is often the case.”

Paragraph 77: “The lay faithful, both men and women, should be given greater opportunities for participation, also exploring new forms of service and ministry in response to the pastoral needs of our time in a spirit of collaboration and differentiated co-responsibility. In particular, some concrete needs have emerged from the synodal process. These need to be responded to according to the various contexts:

a) increased participation of laymen and laywomen in Church discernment processes and all phases of decision-making processes (drafting, making and confirming decisions);

b) greater access of laymen and laywomen to positions of responsibility in dioceses and ecclesiastical institutions, including seminaries, institutes and theological faculties; more fully enacting existing provisions;

c) greater recognition and support for the lives and charisms of consecrated men and women and their employment in positions of ecclesial responsibility;

d) a greater number of qualified lay people serving as judges in all canonical processes;

e) effective recognition of the dignity and respect for the rights of those who are employed in the Church and its institutions.”

Paragraph 92: “In a synodal Church, the authority of the Bishop, of the Episcopal College and of the Bishop of Rome in regard to decision-taking is inviolable as it is grounded in the hierarchical structure of the Church established by Christ; it both serves unity and legitimate diversity. Such an exercise of authority, however, is not without limits: it may not ignore a direction which emerges through proper discernment within a consultative process, especially if this is done by participatory bodies.”

Paragraph 102: “It seems necessary to ensure, at the very least, the establishment everywhere of the following in forms appropriate to different contexts:

a) effective functioning of finance councils;

b) effective involvement of the People of God, in particular of the more competent members, in pastoral and financial planning;

c) preparation and publication (appropriate to the local context and in an accessible form) of an annual financial report, insofar as possible externally audited, demonstrating the transparency of how the temporal goods and financial resources of the Church and its institutions are being managed;

d) the preparation and publication of an annual report on the carrying out of the local Church’s mission, including also safeguarding initiatives (the protection of minors and vulnerable adults), and progress made in promoting the laity’s access to positions of authority and to decision-making processes, specifying the proportion of men and women;

e) periodic evaluations of all the ministries and roles within the Church.”

Paragraph 104: “A synodal Church is based upon the existence, efficiency and effective vitality of these participatory bodies, not on the merely nominal existence of them. This requires that they function in accordance with canonical provisions or legitimate customs and with respect to the statutes and regulations that govern them. For this reason, we insist that they be made mandatory, as was requested at all stages of the synodal process, and that they can fully play their role, and not just in a purely formal way, in ways appropriate to their diverse local contexts.”

Paragraph 106: “Equal attention needs to be given to the membership of the participatory bodies so as to encourage greater involvement by women, young people, and those living in poverty or on the margins. Furthermore, it is essential that these bodies include the baptized who are committed to living their faith in the ordinary realities of life, who are recognizably committed to an apostolic and missionary life, not only those engaged with organizing ecclesial life and services internally.”

Paragraph 125: “Based on the outcomes of the synodal process, we propose […] to specify precisely the domain of the doctrinal and disciplinary competence of Episcopal Conferences. Without compromising the authority of the Bishop within the Church entrusted to him or putting at risk either the unity or the catholicity of the Church, the collegial exercise of such competence can further the authentic teaching of the one faith in an appropriate and enculturated way within different contexts in addition to identifying fitting liturgical, catechetical, disciplinary, pastoral theology and spiritual expression.”

Paragraph 148. “Throughout the synodal process, a widely expressed request was that discernment and formation of candidates for ordained ministry be undertaken in a synodal way. There should be a significant presence of women, an immersion in the daily life of communities, and formation to enable collaboration with everyone in the Church and in how to practice ecclesial discernment.”

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