Pope Francis Outlines New Ways for Bishops To Be ‘Synodal’
At the first meeting of the full assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Wednesday, Pope Francis said a bishop’s ministry should include cooperation with laypeople and that the synod will need to identify “differing forms” of the exercise of this ministry.
That bishops, laymen and laywomen, priests, and religious are all synod delegates was an intentional choice, the pontiff said in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Oct. 2, and it “expresses a way of exercising the episcopal ministry consistent with the living tradition of the Church and with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.”
“Never can a bishop, or any other Christian, think of himself ‘without others,’” he continued. “Just as no one is saved alone, the proclamation of salvation needs everyone and requires that everyone be heard.”
“Differing forms of a ‘collegial’ and ‘synodal’ exercise of the episcopal ministry” in dioceses and in the universal Church, Francis said, “will need to be identified in due course, always respecting the deposit of faith and the living tradition, and always responding to what the Spirit asks of the Churches at this particular time and in the different contexts in which they live.”
The Synod on Synodality reflects this “inclusive understanding” of a bishop’s ministry, the pope underlined, adding that bishops and laypeople must learn how to better cooperate in the Church going forward.
Pope Francis in his speech addressed the more than 400 participants in the second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops on the first day of the Oct. 2–27 Vatican gathering on synodality. The 2024 meeting has 368 voting members (delegates), 272 of whom are bishops and 96 of whom are not bishops. Among the 96 non-bishops, about half are women.
The first general gathering, or “congregation,” as it is called, was dedicated to opening greetings by Pope Francis and Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes as well as introductory speeches from synod leaders Cardinal Mario Grech and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ.
During the three-and-a-half-hour meeting, delegates also watched informational videos about the synod including videos presenting the 10 theological study groups and a canonical commission formed by Pope Francis.
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