The study groups Pope Francis established to provide an in-depth reflection on controversial, complex or “emerging” questions raised during the Synod of Bishops on Synodality have published interim reports. Source: OSV News.
The groups were asked to look at questions including the formation of priests, the selection of bishops, women’s leadership in the Church and ministry to LGBTQ Catholics.
The late pope had asked the groups to complete their work by June 2025, but Pope Leo XIV extended the deadlines to the end of the year.
However, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod, said yesterday that the work of some groups – “given the richness and complexity of most of the topics entrusted to them – has required more time than originally anticipated.”
“Some groups are now nearing completion of their work, while others will continue in the months ahead,” he said.
The reports, the cardinal said, also include the initial work of a study group on “the liturgy in a synodal perspective,” which began working in late July.
The interim reports published yesterday vary in their depth and detail, with some groups listing their members and providing concrete proposals and with others giving only a vague description of the methodology they were using.
The study group on priestly formation, which was focused on ways to ensure future priests are educated in synodality, identified “a series of needs,” which it said “cannot be ignored.”
These included: the need to deepen the identity of ordained ministry in relational terms; joint formation moments involving laypeople, consecrated persons, ordained ministers and seminarians; greater participation of women and families in formation; and a focus on missionary outreach.
One of the shortest reports was from the group convened by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to look at “the participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church.”
The group’s final report, it said, would include: Significant female figures in the history of the Church; personal accounts from women currently engaged in Church leadership; personal accounts from women serving within the Roman Curia; the nature and exercise of authority in the Church; critical tensions regarding clericalism and male chauvinism; and the contribution of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV concerning the role of women in the Church.
On the question of the possible ordination of women to the diaconate, the report said that materials from the Synod and contributions received more recently have been forwarded to the commission Pope Francis set up in 2020 to continue studying the issue.
FULL STORY
Synod study groups release ‘interim’ reports as most continue working (By Cindy Wooden, OSV News)
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