In October of 2021, Pope Francis opened the Synod on Synodality in Rome. The theme for 2021 - 2024 is For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission. This journey of listening, reflection and consideration will set the future path of the Catholic Church.

This synod is unique. Where previous synods were a month of reflection for bishops, this two-year plus process invites all who are baptized to participate in a synod on synodality with everyone in the Church walking together.

Here are the synthesis reports produced from the local, national, and continental stages of the synod:

On 20 June 2023, the General Secretary of the Synod launched the document Instrumentum Laboris. A document of the whole Church. This document has several co-authors, as a fruit from all the Church, a journey in which all learn to walk together, questioning the meaning of the Church experience. It includes all voices, and it is an opportunity for the entire people of God to continue the journey. This document is expected to lead to a final version to be voted on at the end of the Synod.

Full text in English

Full text in French

For those looking to learn more about the Synod on Synodality, we encourage invite you to explore the following:

“The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity. Together, we are inspired by listening to the Word of God, through the living Tradition of the Church, and grounded in the sensus fidei that we share. We all have a role to play in discerning and living out God’s call for his people.”

“Participation is based on the fact that all the faithful are qualified and are called to serve one another through the gifts they have each received from the Holy Spirit in baptism. In a synodal Church the whole community is called together to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will.”

“Our mission is to witness to the love of God in the midst of the whole human family. This Synodal Process has a deeply missionary dimension to it. It is intended to enable the Church to better witness to the Gospel, especially with those who live on the spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries of our world.”