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Synod calls for a new vision of Church

International

The final document of the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod includes a “concrete proposal of a new vision that overturns established practices”.

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According to Vatican News, the document has been published immediately in order to “inspire the life of the Church” and will not become the basis of an Exhortation by the Pope.

“The synodal process does not conclude with the end of the current Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, but it also includes the implementation phase, involving all in the ‘daily journey with a synodal methodology of consultation and discernment, identifying concrete ways and formation pathways to bring about a tangible synodal conversion in the various ecclesial contexts’,” Vatican News reported.

“In particular, the document challenges bishops on their commitment to transparency and accountability, while noting, with Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, that work continues to provide women greater roles and greater power within the Church.”

At a press conference held to discuss the final document, Synod leaders pointed to the need to shift the language and perspective with which we understand the Church.

Moving away from a vision of the ‘universal Church’ as a kind of multinational corporation, the Church is instead to be seen as a ‘communion of Churches’, with growing contributions from laypersons and women. The ongoing question of female diaconate also remains open. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich acknowledged that this is a “very delicate issue” and noted that the Pope has neither confirmed nor dismissed the possibility, keeping it an open question for further discernment.

Referring to paragraph 76 of the final document, the press conference highlighted that lay and ordained ministries should not be seen in opposition but as complementary services within the Church.

Synod leaders said lay ministers are not “fill-ins” for priests, but contributors to a shared mission, particularly in secularized regions where the Church embraces a community-based rather than hierarchical structure.

Cardinal Hollerich noted that the liturgy remains open to adaptation, enabling greater participation where appropriate. In his diocese, for example, he frequently celebrates Mass in Portuguese, using a Brazilian missal that encourages broader congregational involvement. The Sunday Eucharist serves as a focal point for building Gospel-centered communities.

The final document comprises five parts, rooted in the Gospel accounts of the ‘Resurrected Jesus appearing to the Apostles’.

The first identifies ‘The Heart of Synodality’. The second part, ‘On the Boat, Together’, is dedicated to “the conversion of the relationships that build the Christian community and shape the mission in the intertwining of vocations, charisms and ministries” while the third, ‘Cast the Net’, “identifies three practices that are intimately connected: ecclesial discernment, decision-making processes, and a culture of transparency, accountability and evaluation”.

The fourth part, ‘An Abundant Catch’, “outlines how it is possible to cultivate in new forms the exchange of gifts and the intertwining of the bonds that “unite us in the Church, at a time when the experience of being rooted in a place is changing profoundly”. The fifth part, ‘So I Send You’, “allows us to look at the first step to be taken: caring for the formation of all, of the People of God, all synodal missionaries”.

In his homily at t the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis referred to the day’s Gospel narrative of the blind man Bartimaeus to explain the “inner blindness” that can hold us back from “the dynamism of life” and having any hope.

This can also affect us as Church, the Pope said, whereby we can become “incapable of perceiving the presence of the Lord, unprepared to face the challenges of reality” and at times unable to respond adequately “to the questions of so many who cry out to us.”

“We cannot remain inert before the questions raised by the women and men of today, before the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelisation and the many wounds that afflict humanity,” he said.

The Pope warned that “a sedentary Church” that “confines itself to the margins of reality” risks remaining blind and will “fail to grasp the urgency of giving a pastoral response to the many problems of our world.”

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