~ by Gerard O’Connell for AMERICA
Pope Francis has decided that the second session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality will open on October 2 and end on October 27, the General Secretariat of the synod announced on February 17. It will be preceded by a two-date retreat on September 30 – October 1.
Contrary to expectations, the synod will in fact be more or less the same length as the first session. As already known, almost all the synod’s 365 members (including women and men who are not bishops) participated in last October’s synod. They will continue to focus on the theme: “For a synodal church: communion, participation and mission.”
Accompanying this news, Pope Francis also issued a chirograph – that is a document directly written and signed by the pope – in which he announced the establishment of study groups to delve into some of the themes that had emerged last October in the first session of the synod. Francis did not specify which of the many themes that emerged from the first session will be subjected to the study.
A rapid glance at the 81 proposals made in the synthesis report issued at the end of last October’s synod suggests that the following themes are likely to be among those discussed and researched in the study groups: the role and place of women in the church, including the question of the diaconate in general and the diaconate for women; structures of synodality at the diocesan and parish level; the updating of the Code of Canon Law. These and other issues mentioned in the document released by the synod secretariat on December 11 entitled “Towards October 2024,” may require theological, canonical or pastoral input.
The latter document emphasized that next October’s synod will focus on how to live synodality at all levels in the church. To read the entire account, please click here