Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops



The 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, commonly referred to as the synod on synodality, is an ongoing synod of bishops of the Catholic Church which will conclude in October 2024 and has as its theme "For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission". It has been described as the culmination of Pope Francis's papacy and the most important event in the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

The date of the synod was first announced as October 2022, but was then changed to October 2023 because the scope of the synod had been widened. A further extension was announced in October 2022, taking the closing date to October 2024.

The list of all 364 participants was published on 7 July 2023.

In advance of the synod's October 2023 assembly, Pope Francis issued the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, in which he calls for brisk action against the climate crisis and condemns climate change denial.

Background
From the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis expressed his desire to strengthen the collegial aspects of the Church's governance, and he argued for more recognition of charismatic gifts in the Church. On 15 September 2018, Francis approved the new apostolic constitution Episcopalis communio (Episcopal communion). The constitution states that the Synod's final document, if approved by the members with "moral unanimity" and, if the Pope has "granted deliberative power to the Synod Assembly", becomes part of the ordinary Magisterium of Catholic teaching "once it has been ratified and promulgated by him". The new constitution also provides for the laity to send their contributions directly to the synod's secretary general.

Some analysts surmise that the greatest achievement of Francis' papacy may be his creation of a more synodal Catholic church, where synods serve as a platform for open and energetic debate.

Preparation
Pope Francis announced the Synod on Synodality on March 7, 2020.

On 24 May 2019, Nathalie Becquart was appointed, along with four other women and one man, as consultor to the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church. It was the first time for women to be appointed to that position. Becquart saw the appointment as a part of Pope Francis's effort "to implement synodality at every level of the Church’s life" and to benefit from the important contribution that women can make. Becquart proposed a symbolic step of asking a woman to lead the retreat for the Roman Curia one year. On 6 February 2021, Pope Francis appointed Becquart as an undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, making her the first woman to have the right to vote in the Catholic Synod of Bishops. On April 26 2023, Pope Francis announced that women would be allowed to vote at the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, marking the first time women were allowed to vote at any Catholic Synod of Bishops.

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, said that the synod was not like a parliament, where one sides stands to gain as the other loses. It is also not as important who has a vote on the final document, he said, as much as Catholics around the world "dialogue, converse, discern together in order to" find consensus.

On 10 July 2023, five cardinals—Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Leo Burke, Zen Ze-Kiun, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, and Robert Sarah—sent a set of dubia to Pope Francis concerning the upcoming synod. The cardinals say that the pope answered those dubia the next day and gave them his answers privately. However, since the pope did not answer those dubia with "yes" or "no", the five cardinals then submitted on 21 August 2023 another set of dubia rewording the previous set of dubia; the pope did not answer this latest set. On 2 October 2023, a few days before the beginning of the synod, those five cardinals publicly complained they had not received answers to their second set of dubia. Hours after this public complaint, the Holy See publicly released their answers to the first set of dubia and criticised the cardinals for talking about those matters in public.

The guidelines for the synod were published on 4 October 2023. They stated, among other things, that to preserve "the freedom of expression of each and all regarding their thoughts and to ensure the serenity of the discernment in common, which is the main task entrusted to the assembly, each of the participants is bound to confidentiality and discretion regarding both their own interventions and the interventions of other participants". The guidelines stipulate that "[t]his duty remains in force once the synodal assembly has ended".

Ecumenical reach
Before the beginning of the synod, Pope Francis invited all Christians for a Synod prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square on September 30. Important church leaders were present, among whom:
 * The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, primate of the Church of Constantinople and honorific head of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
 * The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, primate of the Church of England and honorific head of the Anglican Communion.
 * The Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, Bernd Wallet, primate of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands and honorific leader of the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches.
 * Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, primate of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
 * Anne Burghardt, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.
 * Jong Chun Park, President of the World Methodist Council.
 * Rev. Thomas Schirrmacher, General Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance.
 * Rev. Elijah M. Brown, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.
 * William Wilson, Chairman of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.
 * Kuzipa Nalwamba, representative of the World Council of Churches.
 * Mar Benjamin Paulus, representative of the Assyrian Church of the East.
 * Khajag Barsamian, representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
 * Gebretsadik Debeb, representative of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
 * Geevarghese Mar Barnabas, representative of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
 * Samaan Anba Pola, representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
 * Gennadios Stylianos Stantzios, Bishop of Botswana, representative of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
 * Andrej Ćilerdžić, representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
 * Serafim Bădilă, representative of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Synodality
Several months before announcing the synod, Pope Francis said that "Synodality is a style, it is a walk together, and it is what the Lord expects from the Church of the third millennium". According to the International Theological Commission, synodality is "the action of the Spirit in the communion of the Body of Christ and in the missionary journey of the People of God". It is more commonly understood as a process by which the Church undergoes discernment on a variety of issues. Aided by the Holy Spirit, the laity, priests, bishops, and religious each use their own gifts and charisms to help the Church make decisions. The notion of the Church as "synodal" by its very nature requires "careful theological clarification" according to the Commission, as it is a relatively new concept.

Preparatory documents
In September 2021, the Vatican released a preparatory document and "handbook" to dioceses around the world to help them prepare for the synod. According to the document:

The purpose of this synod is not to produce more documents. Rather, it is intended to inspire people to dream about the church we are called to be, to make people's hopes flourish, to stimulate trust, to bind up wounds, to weave new and deeper relationships, to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, warm hearts, and restore strength to our hands for our common mission.

The handbook offers guidance to bishops for how to solicit the thoughts of lay Catholics, as well as non-Catholics and non-Christians, particularly those on the margins of society. It includes a number of questions and discussion prompts in 10 general themes to help promote reflection and the collection of input from a wide variety of stakeholders. The most basic question, according to the document, is "How does this 'journeying together', which takes place today on different levels -- from the local level to the universal one -- allow the church to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the mission entrusted to her; and what steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow as a synodal church?". Several of the suggested questions include:
 * To whom does our particular church "need to listen to" [sic] and how are the laity, especially young people and women, listened to?
 * How do we integrate the contribution of consecrated men and women?
 * What space is there for the voice of minorities, the discarded, and the excluded?
 * Do we identify prejudices and stereotypes that hinder our listening?
 * How do we listen to the social and cultural context in which we live?

A prayer used at Councils, Synods and other Church gatherings for hundreds of years, opening words Adsumus, Sancte Spiritus (We stand before You, Holy Spirit) has been adopted for use in advance of synod-related gatherings and services.

Diocesan phase
Pope Francis officially opened the synodal process on 10 October 2021 at the Vatican. The diocesan phase ran from October 2021 to April 2022.

In England and Wales, the diocesan phase ran from November 2021 to March 2022. The local bishops noted that the participation of lay people in a synod was "unprecedented". The bishops published a National Synthesis Document on 22 June 2022 drawing together the emerging conclusions of this phase, in preparation for the next, continental, phase of the process.

The Irish Catholic bishops published a National Synthesis Document in August 2022 following a similar process across the 22 Irish dioceses.

Continental phase
The continental phase extended from September 2022 to March 2023. The European Continental Synodal Assembly took place in Prague from 5 to 12 February 2023. For the North American Continental Stage, 10 virtual assemblies took place during December 2022 and January 2023, with a continental synthesis completed by 31 March 2023.

Universal phase
In April 2023, it was announced that 70 non-bishops (including deacons, priests, consecrated men and women, and Catholic laity) will be able to participate and vote at the Assembly.

In June 2023, the working document (Instrumentum laboris) was released.

The final or universal phase started on 4 October 2023 with a synodal assembly taking place at the Vatican after a three-day retreat held in Sacrofano. The October session, held behind closed doors, took place over a three week period. The assembly proceedings were described by some who had attended as "long and demanding". A summary report was published on 28 October 2023 entitled A Synodal Church in Mission. At the end of the synodal assembly, the Pope referred back to the Synod’s ultimate goal:"The Lord will guide us and help us to be a more synodal and missionary Church, a Church that adores God and serves the women and men of our time, going forth to bring everyone the consoling joy of the Gospel." The synod itself will continue until October 2024; the period until then is intended to "allow everyone to concretely participate" in the synodal process.