The Synod on Synodality is scheduled to wrap up soon, but that’s not stopping the Vatican from looking ahead to the next synodal moment.
The Synod on Synodality was a listening synod to explore the process of synodality in the Church. It was so successful that Pope Francis has already announced a sequel he’s calling “The Synod on the Synod on Synodality,” which will be a listening synod dedicated to hearing the Church’s experience of the Synod on Synodality. The Pope hopes that this will open further dialogue with the faithful to bring even greater healing and cooperation with and within the Church’s hierarchy.
The Synod on Synodality operated in miniature synods in each diocese. Various parishes or the bishop himself held regular open meetings, which were compiled together in each diocese, and then in each national bishop’s conference. Then, all the bishop’s conferences of each continent met together to compile their synodality, which is all and finally compiled in Rome itself.
But next time’s Synod on the Synod on Synodality will expand this concept even further. Every individual household will hold their own synod, the results of which will be sent to each parish, which will compile those and send to each diocese. Each diocese will compile the parish synods, which will go to the bishop’s conferences. These will go to a continental meeting for compilation, which will then all be compiled in Rome.
The long fruits of this labor will eventually go to Pope Francis himself, who says it will provide vital background information for him when he writes his next encyclical on the economy.
