In a press conference in the Vatican, the balance of the continental assemblies that have been held in recent months with a view to the October meeting, while a commission works on the synthesis that will guide the debate. Thousand “digital missionaries” involved in parallel work that was carried out online. The experience of other Christian Churches on synodality will also be heard.
Vatican City () – The Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod scheduled for October will not be an academic summary or a statistical recount of the topics most addressed in the synodal path, but rather a spiritual discernment. And the General Secretariat intends to publish it at the end of May. This is what was revealed this morning in the Press conference which was held in the Vatican at the conclusion of the continental phase of the Synod, which culminated in the seven Assemblies held at the local level in these first months of 2023 to synthesize the priorities that emerged in them.
It was the Hna. Nathalie Becquart -who as undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod participated in no less than four continental Assemblies- who highlighted some particularly significant features of these moments. “First of all, the centrality of the experience of the meeting beyond the documents,” the French nun quoted. “For example, the Assembly of the Churches of the Middle East, which took place in Lebanon a few days after the earthquake in Turkey, was an occasion of consolation. For some in Africa, coming to this church meeting in Addis Ababa was even the first opportunity to leave your country…”.
The Churches of each continent had the opportunity to highlight the faces of synodality closest to their own experience: “Attention to the custody of creation in Oceania, ecumenism and liturgy in the Middle East, the Church as family of God in Africa, the dimension of interiority and harmony in Asia Another important fact is that, with the growing phenomenon of migration, no local Church today can really think of itself only from its community of origin.In this sense, it is interesting that precisely the communities of the Arabian Peninsula, where Christians of so many different nationalities are present, have brought to the Assembly of the Middle East the testimony of a most beautiful synodal journey”.
Another crucial question is the theme of inculturation: “How can we be a single Church in this diversity of cultures and contexts?” Sr. Becquart summed it up. The question of what must be decided at each level is one of the issues that are emerging. As is the desire to reinforce precisely this continental dimension”.
Now, a commission of experts is working on the final documents that each of these seven Assemblies sent to Rome, and brings together bishops, priests, religious and lay people, men and women with different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. They met in Rome last week and their contribution to the writing of the Instrumentum Laboris was commented during the press conference by the Archbishop of Perth, Timothy John Costelloe, President of the Australian Bishops’ Conference. “We took time to pray – he explained -, to reflect on what we read, to speak openly and listen to each other. Only then did we begin to discern together the themes, priorities and points of tension that we had to offer as a contribution to the draft of the Instrumentum Laboris“. An important aspect of this week were the meetings with the departments of the Roman Curia. They were in themselves good examples of the style that is at the heart of the synodal path: “open, attentive, respectful dialogues in speaking and listening “.
At the same time, in recent months the “digital synod” has also continued, the mode of participation that was carried out precisely in the “digital spaces” of the web, to reach those people who do not participate in ecclesial institutions but who want to follow this path of the Church. Archbishop Lucio Adian Ruiz, Secretary General of the Dicastery for Communication, took stock and spoke of 1,000 “digital missionaries” involved with a “potential of 20 million followers.” A wide population participated, mainly in the age range of 18 to 40 years, including 30% of non-believers or people far from the Church. 150,000 questionnaires from 115 countries were collected. “Young people – Monsignor Ruiz explained – have found a dynamic more adapted to them, in terms of times, forms and methodologies. Non-believers, a path of rapprochement and dialogue that has allowed them to express themselves more freely.”
Lastly, another important dimension of the synodal path was the ecumenical one, promoted by the Department for the Promotion of Christian Unity. “In the logic of the exchange of gifts”, explained Fr. Hyachinte Destivelle, “one of those that Catholics could receive from other Christians is precisely their synodal experience”. In this sense, between 2022 and 2023, four international conferences were organized focused on the understanding and practice of synodality in the four great Christian traditions: Orthodox, ancient Eastern Churches, historic Protestants and new ecclesial realities.
