The General Secretariat of the Synod has released the first two final reports of the Synod on Synodality’s study groups established by Pope Francis, focusing on the digital mission and priestly formation. Source: Vatican News.
The reports published were those of the study group on “The Mission in the Digital Environment” and the study group on “The Revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a Missionary Synodal Perspective”.
Pope Leo XIV directed the publication of these final reports to share the fruits of the reflection and discernment undertaken during the Synod, in a spirit of transparency and accountability.
The final reports are published in English and Italian, with an indication of the original language and the working translation. With the publication of the reports, the two study groups on those topics are now dissolved.
The General Secretariat will continue to release the final reports progressively, with the next publication scheduled for March 10.
Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, said that the reports, “beyond the value of their content” also “testify to the shared journey undertaken with the dicasteries”.
“It is not the first time that the dicasteries have collaborated on a common project, but here, there is something more: an authentic exercise of shared listening, reflection, and discernment,” Cardinal Grech said.
“It is synodality put into practice, not merely bureaucratic cooperation.”
The digital mission report addresses a central question that emerged during Synod on Synodality – how to live the Church’s mission within a culture increasingly shaped by the digital sphere.
Key themes include the need to integrate digital mission into the Church’s ordinary structures, an in-depth analysis of territorial jurisdiction in light of online communities, and the formation of pastors and pastoral workers in digital culture.
The report concludes with a series of operative proposals articulated at three levels: the Holy See, Episcopal Conferences, and dioceses. It also includes an extensive section on the methodology adopted and the entities consulted.
The study group on the formation to the priesthood elected to produce a proposal for a guiding document to implement the 2016 document Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, which provides the framework for priestly formation.
Some of the most significant proposals in the study group’s document include alternating residence between the seminary and parish communities or other ecclesial contexts; shared formative experiences and moments with lay faithful, consecrated persons, and ordained ministers; and the inclusion of qualified and competent women as co-responsible at all levels of formation.
FULL STORY
Synod Office releases first two Final Reports of the Study groups (Vatican News)
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