Synod final text calls for continued ‘process’ with synodal ‘listening’ and dialogue

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The official text and final document of the multi-year Synod on Synodality has been published: quieter on so-called “hot button” issues than last year, but instead urging a Church-wide reform in line with “synodality” – a word described as meaning a focus on ecumenism, listening, and renewal.

Divided into five parts and 155 paragraphs, the document will be issued to the whole Church. Closing the final meeting of the synod on Saturday night, Francis announced he would not be publishing an apostolic exhortation following the synod. “It’s enough that we’ve approved” the final document, he said, adding he would publish it immediately.

NEW: #PopeFrancis declares he will not publish an apostolic exhortation after the Synod on Synodality.

Instead he will just issue the event’s final document for all to have.

Text will emerge publicly tonight. pic.twitter.com/YDJksgLBRK

— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) October 26, 2024

Under Francis’ own 2018 Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis communio, once the final document of a synod “is expressly approved by the Roman Pontiff, the Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter.”

The synod’s final document remains full of open questions, suggestions for future actions, and outlines of proposals for continued “discernment.” In this manner, the peculiar state emerges of an incredibly long process resulting in relatively few concrete results – at least on paper. Pro-LGBT campaigners will likely be disappointed in not having more concrete results, although some concessions are made in paragraph 50, as outlined below.

But, as Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich told the press Saturday night, the synod is about the journey. “We have walked together and now we now we have to walk together in the future,” he said about the work of the assembly itself.

However, not all questions are left unanswered. There are definitive calls for “mandatory” measures to be implemented in the Church, such as the implementation of various levels of councils in the decision-making hierarchy.

Additionally, a seeming time-bomb is planted with regard to papal authority, with the text ruling that papal authority cannot over-rule the joint consensus of assorted consultative bodies.

The synod has always been about two things throughout the past few years: ecumenism and listening – the latter of which ultimately translates to a changing of the Church’s structural life and governance. These, especially once again the latter, are the strongest points emerging from the Synod’s final document.

In one sense it says surprisingly little for an event which has taken three years. Yet on the other hand, the proposals and calls for mandatory action read as the blueprint for a substantially different Church, one – as the document notes – which is oriented around the “seed” of the Second Vatican Council as the Synod “continues to draw upon the energy of that seed and develop its potential.”

“Rooted in the Tradition of the Church, the entire synodal journey took place in the light of the conciliar magisterium,” the document notes.

Role of women

Each paragraph was voted on individually, with all having been approved. The greatest objection was to paragraph 60 (258 for/97 against) dealing with certain questions relating to the role of women in the Church, and including the statement that “the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open.” (Paragraph 60: 258 for/97 against)

It attested that “women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining a fuller recognition of their charisms, vocation and roles in all the various areas of the Church’s life.”

Such a scenario, the document added, “is to the detriment of serving the Church’s shared mission.”

Consequently the synod:

… 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. The Assembly also asks that more attention be given to the language and images used in preaching, teaching, catechesis, and the drafting of official Church documents, giving more space to the contributions of female saints, theologians and mystics.

Future of synodality

The document notes early on that though the official Synod on Synodality meetings have ended, the process has not: “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.” (paragraph 9: 338 for/17 against)

It notes that the synod members “faced fatigue, resistance to change and the temptation to let our own ideas prevail over listening to the Gospel and the practice of discernment.” (6: 344/11)

Synodality, the members write, “requires repentance and conversion … This is why we want to be a merciful Church, capable of sharing with everyone the forgiveness and reconciliation that come from God: pure grace of which we are not masters, but only witnesses.” (6: 344/11)

Notably, the synod text calls for a continued synodal style of ecclesial life at every level, from local churches to the papacy. “Synodality involves gathering at all levels of the Church for mutual listening, dialogue, and community discernment,” the text further adds. (28: 340/15)

The text attests that synodality has revitalized the Church’s ministry and life: “to rediscover the root of the varieties of charisms, vocations and ministries.” (21: 354/1)

When “practised with humility, the synodal style enables the Church to be a prophetic voice in today’s world,” the document attests. (47: 350/5)

It also posited a link between liturgy and synodality, saying that the two are listening: liturgy as listening to God and synodality as listening to God through His people. “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,” the text reads. (26: 312/43) Questioned on this point during the synod briefing Saturday night, Hollerich stated that there were no plans for a liturgical “revolution.”

“There is no plan to replace priests with laymen or lay women, just to make it a little more participatory,” he said.

The text also mentioned that “unfortunately, others [synod participants] continued to experience the pain of feeling excluded or judged because of their marital situation, identity or sexuality,” appearing to allude to LGBT issues and the divorced and “re-married.” (50: 333/22)

Cardinals Hollerich and Grech. Credit: Haynes

Ecumenism

The text also highlights the intimate link between synodality and ecumenism: “as well as constituting the basis of synodality baptism is also the foundation of ecumenism.” (23: 336/19) “Ecumenism is first and foremost a matter of spiritual renewal,” the document asserts, while praising “ecumenism of blood.” (23: 336/19)

Indeed, in a rare definition of synodality, the text states that “Synodality is the walking together of Christians with Christ and towards God’s Kingdom, in union with all humanity.” (28: 340/15)

Unity of Christians was highlighted (40: 348/7), as was religious dialogue (42: 334/21) and the ability of 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” as 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.” (42: 334/21)

“One of the most significant fruits of the Synod 2021-2024 has been the intensity of ecumenical zeal,” the text states. (137: 346/9)

Papacy, mandatory councils, and decision making

Much debate took place during the synod about the proposal for bishops’ conferences to have doctrinal authority. Calls were also made for councils at various levels of the national church to be made mandatory, thus enforcing a “synodal” style of devolved exercise of authority.”

In light of this, the document states that the Pope’s power cannot “ignore a direction which emerges through proper discernment within a consultative process, especially if this is done by participatory bodies.” (92: 316/39) The passage adds for a call to revise Canon Law to remove the phrasing of “consultative vote” in order to mandate the style of decision making shared by the Pope and consulting bodies.

Indeed, outlining the various decision making bodies accounted for in Canon Law, the final text stated that in order for the Church to be “synodal,” such bodies “must be made mandatory.” This would likely see the forced implementation of a much more secular style of institutional government.  (104: 329/26)

The document also highlights plans for effecting a “’sound decentralisation’ (EG 16) and an effective inculturation of faith.” To this end, bishops conferences will receive more recognition along with provincial and plenary councils – in line with what was proposed by certain voices in the synod. (129: 317/38)

On the topics of both ecumenism and the papacy, the synod issues a firm plan for establishing “a Council of Patriarchs, Major Archbishops and Metropolitans of the Eastern Catholic Churches presided over by the Pope, which would be an expression of synodality and an instrument for promoting communion.” This would “also serve as a means of sharing liturgical, theological, canonical and spiritual patrimony.” (133: 318/37)

Additionally, the synod called for the Pope to convene a special synod to “promote the consolidation and re-flourishing of the Eastern Catholic Churches.” (133: 318/37)

Furthermore, in the service of “decentralization,” the text suggests a “theological and canonical study whose task would be to identify those matters that should be addressed to the Pope (reservatio papalis) and those that could be addressed to the bishops in their Churches or groupings of Churches.” In essence this appears to re-open the debate about whether local bishops can decide on doctrine. (134: 337/18)

Cardinal Mario Grech. Credit: Haynes

Family, ministries

Highlighting the important roles of the family, of children, and of the married state, the text issued a note from the synod members stating, “the Assembly once again expressed its closeness to and support for all those who accept being alone as a choice made in fidelity to the Church’s Tradition and Magisterium on marriage and sexual ethics, which they recognise as a source of life.” (64: 348/7)

Much discussion has also been made of the possibility of new ministries in the Church following the synod, particularly in relation to the question of new roles for women. This was furthered in the final document as a call was made for “discernment” about which “charisms … should take a ministerial form and thus be equipped with adequate criteria, tools and procedures,” since “not all charisms need to be configured as ministries, nor do all the baptized need to become ministers, nor do all ministries need to be instituted.” (66: 351/4)

“A missionary synodal Church would encourage more forms of lay ministries, that is, ministries that do not require the sacrament of Holy Orders, and this not only within the liturgical sphere,” the text adds. (66: 351/4)

Reiterating a talking point from a recent synod press briefing, a call was made by the synod for the laity to have “a greater voice in choosing bishops.” (70: 33/25)

Calls were additionally made for “a more active distribution of tasks and responsibilities and a more courageous discernment of what properly belongs to the ordained ministry,” with regard to the relationship between bishops, priests, and deacons. (74: 343/12)

Special mention was made of the non-instituted ministries – such as catechist of a community – and “extraordinary” ministers – such as of the Eucharist. Citing how some lay faithful already lead liturgies in the absence of a priest and offer baptism, the document echoed a call made by those in the Amazon region for lay-led ecclesial structures and the formation of new ministries: