By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-26 20:36:29 | Updated at 2024-11-28 19:38:15
1 day ago
CV NEWS FEED // Pope Francis has officially presented the Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, calling it part of the “ordinary Magisterium” of the Bishop of Rome, and asking that it be considered an authoritative teaching.
The document is the culmination of the two-year Synod on Synodality initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021 and concluded in October 2024.
In an accompanying note, Pope Francis described the document as part of the “ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter” and requested that as such, it be regarded as authoritative, Vatican News reported.
“[The document] represents a form of exercising the authentic teaching of the Bishop of Rome,” the Pope said. He acknowledged that the document “contains elements of novelty,” but asserted that it aligned with his 2015 clarification that “synodality is the proper interpretive framework for understanding hierarchical ministry.”
Pope Francis also emphasized in the note that the synodal process has been guided by the Holy Spirit, drawing the Church together across continents, languages, and cultures.
He wrote, “This journey has allowed the Church to read her own experiences and identify steps to live communion, realize participation, and promote the mission entrusted to her by Christ.”
The Pope said that local churches are now called to discern and decide how best to apply the document’s guidance within their particular situations, always following the principles set forth in canon law and the new document.
Pope Francis entrusted the General Secretariat of the Synod, the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, and local bishops with “the task of accompanying local Churches as they work to effectively implement the synodal vision.”
