Synod 2021-2023

The Challenge of Synodality

“What the Lord is asking of us is already in some sense present in the very word “Synod”. Journeying together - laity, pastors, the Bishops of Rome - is an easy concept to put into words, but not so easy to put into practice.”

The Church of God is convoked in Synod. The path entitled “For a Synodal Church. Communion, Participation, and Mission” will solemnly open on the 9th-10th October 2021 in Rome and on the following 17th October in each particular church. One fundamental stage will be the celebration of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, in October 2023, which will be followed by the implementation phase that will again involve the particular Churches. With this convocation, Pope Francis invites the entire church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission: “ It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium. “ This journey which follows in the wake of the Church’s “renewal” proposed by the Second Vatican Council, is both a gift and a task: by journeying together and reflecting together on the the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn through Her experience which processes can help her to live in communion, to achieve participation, to open herself to mission. Our “journeying together” is, in fact, what most effectively enacts and manifests the nature if the church as the pilgrim and missionary People of God.

Synod 2021-2023

“Synodality is the way of being the church today according to the will of God, in a dynamic of discerning and listening together to the voice of the Holy Spirit.”

Pope Francis