On 20 May 2025, the Christian world will commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the opening of the Council of Nicaea, which took place in Asia Minor in the year 325. This was the first ecumenical council in history, and it produced the creed that, completed by the First Council of Constantinople in 381, has become the distinctive expression of the Church’s faith in Jesus Christ. This anniversary occurs within the Jubilee Year, which is centered on the theme “Christ our Hope,” and it coincides with the common celebration of Easter by Christians of both East and West. As Pope Francis has emphasized, in this historic moment—marked by the tragedy of war along with countless anxieties and uncertainties—what is essential, most beautiful, most attractive, and also most necessary for Christians is precisely the faith in Jesus Christ proclaimed at Nicaea. Indeed, the proclamation of this faith is “the fundamental task of the Church” (Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 January 2024).
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The General Secretariat of the Synod has sent to all Bishops and Eparchs and, through them, to the entire “Holy People of God” entrusted to their care, a Letter on the accompaniment process of the implementation phase of the Synod «For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission».

This process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase, coordinated by the General Secretariat of the Synod, was approved by Pope Francis. The Holy Father requested its dissemination to the local Churches and groupings of Churches.

Several significant meetings for evaluating the progress made in the implementation phase will conclude in 2028 with an ecclesial Assembly in Rome.
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Vatican Media spoke with Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod, about the objectives of the  process that will accompany the implementation of the Synod on synodality approved by Pope Francis and which will culminate in the Ecclesial Assembly in 2028. “The goal of the journey  that  General Secretariat of the Synod is proposing to local Churches,“ he explains, “is not is not to add work upon work but to help Churches walk in a synodal style.” Here is an extract of the interview.

The Synod on Synodality seemed to be concluded… and now it is starting again, at the will of Pope Francis, who from the Gemelli Hospital approved the work schedule for the next three years…
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Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved by the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Approved by the pope, the synod’s final document “participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted,” the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.

“Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself,” he wrote nearly a month after the synod’s close.

The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.

After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.
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Anne-Cathy Graber was surprised when Mennonite World Conference received an invitation to send a delegate to the Roman Catholic Synod on Synodality’s concluding assembly in Rome.

“The invitation was amazing, considering how small the Mennonite world is,” said Graber, secretary for ecumenical relations for MWC.

Graber, 60, is an itinerant Mennonite pastor in France. She was tapped by MWC general secretary Cesar Garcia to be one of the 16 fraternal delegates from Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Baptist, Mennonite, Pentecostal and Disciples of Christ churches at the synod.

As a fraternal delegate at the Oct. 2-26 assembly, Graber — who is also co-director of the Chair of Ecumenical Theology at the Faculties Loyola Paris and a member of a religious order that promotes Christian unity — could fully participate in discussions with 368 delegates from around the world. The only thing she could not do was vote.
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An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).

In his introductory remarks, Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, recalled that this day marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and also highlighted the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.
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The second session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, set to bring 368 bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to the Vatican, will begin by asking forgiveness for various sins on behalf of all the baptized.

As synod members did before last year’s session, they will spend two days on retreat before beginning work; that period of reflection will conclude Oct. 1 with a penitential liturgy presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican announced.
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Unleashing congregants’ talents and leadership abilities, embracing open-minded listening and fostering synodality at the parish and diocesan levels were prominent topics of conversation during the Canadian National Online Gathering for Priests video conference Aug. 14.

Approximately “80 to 90 per cent” of the 100 priests invited tuned in for presentations from Frs. Fabio de Souza of Calgary, Pierre Ducharme, OFM., from Richmond, B.C and Quebec’s Daniel Ouellet, all of whom participated in the Vatican’s Parish Priests for the Synod spring meeting.

Attendees were then divided into 21 small groups for discussion. Each grouping featured four priests and one facilitator. All but four of the moderators — two priests and two religious sisters — were lay Catholics.
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Senior archbishops, presiding bishops, and moderators of the churches of the Anglican Communion will meet in Rome for the 2024 Primates’ Meeting (April 29-May 3). Conceived as a pilgrimage, they will pray and study Scripture together, visit holy sites in Rome, and reflect together about the mission and witness of the Church in the world.

In the first gathering of Anglican Primates to be held in Rome, the Primates’ programme will include a meeting with Pope Francis and conversation with Cardinal Grech about the meaning and promise of synodality for the whole Church.

The city of Rome is full of historical and spiritual significance for the whole Christian world. Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine of Canterbury on mission to England in 597. Especially since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Rome has been a centre of inter-Christian encounter and ecumenical research.
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Synods are ecclesial gatherings, intense moments of reflection on the Word of God symbolized by the presence of the Book of the Gospels enthroned in the midst of the assembly. The month-long General Assembly of the 16th Synod, which met in Rome from October 4 to 29, was an experience of prayerful listening. It began with an Ecumenical Prayer Vigil organized by the Taizé community on September 30, where young people from many countries led a series of meditations and intercessions for the world. Their words and gestures recalled the purpose of the synodal process: to help us become a church more responsive to the call to mission and service of the poor and those who suffer.
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“There is no synodality without ecumenism and no ecumenism without synodality.” These words were spoken at the “Together: Gathering of the People of God” ecumenical service on Saturday, September 30, in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. When I heard these words from the podium, I took notice. Ecumenism and synodality are both reform movements in the church. The integral connection between the two seemed self-evident to me, but it’s a good reminder.
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Saturday evening’s Ecumenical Prayer Vigil is taking part in the context of the “Together” project, bringing together young people from the age of 18-35 who have come together for a weekend of sharing. The event was organized by some fifty church groups from a wide variety of denominations, at the initiative of the Taizé community and in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Synod; the Dicasteries for Christian Unity and for the Laity, Family, and Life; and the Vicariate of Rome.
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The former acting General Secretary of the World Council of Churches reflects on the significance of the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil that ushers in the Synod on Synodality.

Reflecting on the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday evening is Reverend Ioan Sauca, former acting General Secretary of the World Council of Churches.

He told Vatican Radio why he believes the Prayer meeting, just before the beginning of the discussions on synodality by Catholic Bishops is of great importance.
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“Pope Francis’ call to all Christians to come together in St Peter’s Square … is something that brings hope to the world.”

That’s the bold claim made by Archbishop Ian Ernest, Personal Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See, in an interview with Vatican News.

He goes on to explain what he means.

“It’s all the baptised”, he says, “coming together in St Peter’s Square to pray for a Church which is engaging itself in a Synod to change the face of the world.”
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At an ecumenical prayer vigil on the eve of the General Assembly of the Synod, Pope Francis says that the truth “does not need loud cries to reach people’s hearts.”

Pope Francis has addressed the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square for an ecumenical prayer vigil.

The faithful – who hail from across the denominational spectrum, and include the heads of many Christian Churches – have gathered to entrust the upcoming General Assembly of the Synod to the Holy Spirit.
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After nearly two years of parish listening sessions and consultations at the regional, national and continental levels, theologian Catherine Clifford said she thinks Catholics the world over are beginning to understand synodality.

“This is like a long kind of apprenticeship,” said Clifford, who teaches systematic and historical theology at St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.

Clifford is one of 10 non-bishop delegates from North America who will participate as members at the Oct. 4-29 Synod of Bishops on synodality in Rome. On July 7, the Vatican announced the full list of synod participants.
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The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) welcomed the news from the Holy See’s General Secretariat of the Synod of the delegates appointed for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held this October. The two episcopal conferences serve as the coordinating entities for the North American region for the Synod, which is themed, For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission. The first session of the Synod will be held at the Vatican on 4-29 October 2023, and the second session is scheduled to be held in October 2024.
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In recent years, the movement towards Christian unity, which had quickened after the Second Vatican Council, seemed to have become mired in a quagmire of insurmountable difficulties. The synodal process launched by Pope Francis has changed all that. The extraordinary synodal journey is not one that the Catholic Church is embarking on alone. The recently published Instrumentum Laboris – working document – for the forthcoming October assembly in Rome devotes a whole section to Christian unity and how the Catholic Church can learn from other traditions. This was the theme of a recent meeting that brought Church leaders and theologians from the Catholic Church and six other Christian denominations to Durham, in the northeast of England.
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“Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ” (Lumen Gentium, #10).

The reports issued during the diocesan and continental phases of the Synod on Synodality 2021-2024 offer a consistent call for a renewed understanding of the universal or baptismal priesthood. These reports frequently refer to the Vatican II quotation above, reminding us that 60 years ago, the church began to chart a new path in which the laity are not passive observers of the clergy’s active ministry. At times over the intervening years, lay ministry has been deemed a collaboration in what was typically understood as clerical ministry. The very word “ministry” has been frequently denied to lay people, who were instead meant to have an apostolate in the world. Pope Francis’ call to end clericalism has not meant an end to ordained ministry. He has cautioned against moves to clericalize lay ministry, pointing instead to the baptismal dignity of all. The Synod participants have noted the scriptural foundations for a baptismal priesthood.
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Catholic-Orthodox relations took a step forward this month with the publication of the first joint statement in seven years.

The document said Pope Francis’ hope for a synodal Church promotes “a more effective synodality,” which could eventually bring the Catholic and Orthodox Churches closer together on the issue.
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The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church held its fifteenth plenary session from 1-7 June 2023 in Alexandria, Egypt, hosted by the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.
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A leading Asian theologian says Pope Francis’ decision to include non-ordained women and men as voting members of October’s synod assembly is a “giant step” that will irreversibly change the Church’s decision-making processes.

Last month, the synod secretariat announced the Pope had authorised a reform to allow at least 70 non-bishops to be members of the 4-29 October synod assembly in the Vatican. This move will see women given a vote in a synod for the first time.
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Pope Francis’ decision in late April to include lay persons as full participants with voting rights in the upcoming Synod of Bishops is a significant step towards making the synod a body that more adequately represents and embodies an act of discernment by the whole entire people of God.

In exhorting the pastors of the local churches to embark upon a synodal process with the whole community of the baptized and listen to the voices of the marginalized, the pope has been seeking to reawaken the muscle memory of the ecclesial body.
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The final document for the North American phase of the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality was released April 12, capturing a process of dialogue and discernment that two participants described as ‘messy,’ ‘joyful’ and unifying — like the synod itself.

“It’s amazing what comes about when … you invoke the Holy Spirit in the conversation,” Julia McStravog, a theologian and co-coordinator of the North American team for the synod’s continental phase, told OSV News.
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For too many Catholics, ordained or lay, the responsibilities of the laity are those “delegated” by the priest or bishop.

As the continental assemblies for the Synod of Bishops make clear that hot-button issues — like sexuality, climate change and the role of women in the church — are not going away, the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life is pointing at a more fundamental issue at stake in learning to be a “synodal church”: What responsibility comes from baptism and unites all Catholics?
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Catholics around the globe long to share the Gospel with a world in need, but they see situations and tensions within the church that challenge their ability to do so, said one of the drafters of the document for the continental phase of the Synod of Bishops.
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Anglicans have an indispensable role to play as Roman Catholics start a two-year conversation on how to become a more “synodal” church, Pope Francis said at his first meeting with Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Nicholls met the pope at the latest meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), which took place in May at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in Rome. Due to the absence of Philip Freier, archbishop of Melbourne and Anglican co-chair of ARCIC who was attending the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, the primate spoke on behalf of the Anglican side of the dialogue. Nicholls presented a formal statement on ARCIC from the Anglican perspective. ARCIC’s other co-chair, Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, England, spoke on behalf of Roman Catholics.

“It was really very lovely,” the primate said of her meeting with Francis. “The pope is a very warm and gracious man who really pays attention to the people he’s with and gives you his full attention while you’re there.”
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A recent blog by Nick Jesson identifies “six signs of an ecumenical springtime” as a cause for renewed hope in the search for Christian unity. Not mentioned by Nick but perhaps a seventh sign of an ecumenical springtime is a growing appreciation for Saint John Paul II’s reference to dialogue as an ecumenical gift exchange. Pope Francis offers clear encouragement: “If we really believe in the abundantly free working of Holy Spirit, we can learn so much from one another!” (Evangelii Gaudium 246). With this in mind, the Catholic Ecumenical Officers of Western Canada saw Pope Francis’ invitation to the whole church, Catholic and ecumenical, to reflect together on synodality as an invitation to host an ecumenical panel on the topic.
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As Christians come together to mark the annual ecumenical Week of Prayer, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Bishop Brian Farrell, says Pope Francis’ synodal process could make a “hugely important” contribution to improving relationships between the different churches.
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In his homily at the Mass to open the two-year synod on synodality, Pope Francis reflected on the meeting recorded in the Gospel of Mark between Jesus and a rich man who asks him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10.17-22) In this encounter, Pope Francis identifies Jesus as one who listens “with his heart and not just with his ears.”
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In a joint letter of 28 October 2021, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Cardinal Mario Grech, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, addressed the Bishops responsible for ecumenism in their Episcopal Conferences and Synods of the Oriental Catholic Churches.

In the letter, the two Cardinals offer practical suggestions aimed at implementing the ecumenical dimension of the synodal process in Dioceses, Episcopal Conferences, and Synods.
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Dans une lettre conjointe datée du 28 octobre 2021, le Cardinal Kurt Koch, Président du Conseil pontifical pour la promotion de l’unité des chrétiens, et le Cardinal Mario Grech, Secrétaire général du Synode des évêques, se sont adressés aux évêques responsables de l’œcuménisme des Conférences épiscopales et des Synodes des Églises orientales catholiques.

Par cette lettre, les deux cardinaux entendent offrir quelques suggestions pratiques pour assurer la dimension œcuménique du processus synodal dans les diocèses et les Conférences épiscopales et les Synodes des Églises orientales catholiques.
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Synod comes from the Greek syn and odos (meaning “with” and “path”) and refers to a way of living or working together. My favourite biblical passage for synodality is that of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, where Cleopas and his companion are joined by the resurrected Jesus, who walks with them and explains the scriptures to them. The biblical passage ends with a meal in which they finally recognize him in the breaking of the bread. Synodality is about walking together in a shared search for Christ in scripture, prayer, and common life.
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We’re all familiar with Gospel accounts of the apostles’ very human seeking for positions of power and greatness and also of Jesus’ clear response: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you” (Matthew 20: 25-26). In fact, Jesus so reverses concepts of power and greatness that “whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10: 44-45; cf. Luke 22: 26-27). A similar view of this reversal of secular models of power is found in Paul’s image of the Christian community as the body of Christ, where those that seem to be the weaker are recognized as indispensable and the inferior member is given greater honour (1 Corinthians 12: 12-27). Over time, this new way of being together in the church would find expression in an understanding of authority exercised through structures of synodality.
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Pope Francis has decided the next world Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, which will take place in October 2022, will have the theme: “For a synodal church: Communion, participation and mission.”

The Vatican announced the choice of “synodality” as the theme in a brief communique March 7.

“Synodality,” which literally means “walking together,” has become a key topic of Pope Francis’ pontificate, but one which has raised questions and even confusion.

The basic idea in the pope’s teaching is that the grace of baptism makes one part of the body of the church and, therefore, responsible for its life and mission. In a hierarchical church, that shared responsibility calls for regular, serious and structural forums for listening to all members of the church. At the same time, as the pope has said, it does not mean putting decisions to a vote as if a synod were a parliament.
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“Synodality,” a key concept of Pope Francis’ papacy, was used repeatedly in the final document of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocation discernment. In simple terms, “synodality” means “walking together” with every member of the church, recognizing that the grace of baptism makes one part of the body of the church and, therefore, responsible for its life and mission. “The church must really let herself be given shape by the Eucharist that she celebrates as the summit and source of her life,” being like “the bread made from many stalks of wheat and broken for the life of the world,” the synod document said.
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Leading Catholic and Orthodox bishops were meeting in Italy to continue discussions on the key issue keeping their Churches apart: the role of the bishop of Rome, the pope.

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church was meeting in Chieti, September 15-22.

Participants were to discuss the draft document, “Towards a common understanding of synodality and primacy in the service to the unity of the Church,” which was finished during a meeting in Rome in 2015, the Vatican press office announced September 15.

Participants were being asked “to determine whether the draft accurately reflects the current consensus on the delicate question of the theological and ecclesiological aspects of primacy in its relation to synodality in the life of the Church or whether it will be necessary to continue to delve deeper into the issue,” said the Vatican communique.
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Pope Francis, who recently spoke of a need to increase the common responsibility all bishops hold for the universal church, told a delegation of Orthodox leaders that the Catholic Church can learn from the synod structure of the Eastern Christian churches.

Dialogue for Christian unity is not a theoretical exercise for theologians, but an essential, practical tool for growing in faith and for evangelization, Pope Francis told a delegation from the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople.

“This is not merely a theoretical exercise, but one of getting to know each other’s traditions in order to understand and even learn from them,” the pope said during the meeting June 28.

Pope Francis said he was referring particularly “to the reflection of the Catholic Church on the meaning of episcopal collegiality and the tradition of synodality, so typical of the Orthodox churches,” in which the synods function as a symbol of the unity of the local churches and as a governing body united to the patriarch or spiritual leader of the church.
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[Vienna, Austria] The twelfth meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church took place in Vienna, Austria, a city with a long history, a bridge between West and East, with a rich ecumenical life. The meeting, generously and fraternally hosted by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, from 20-27 September 2010, in the Kardinal König Haus.
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