Pope Francis’ three-year consultation on the future of the Church concluded at the weekend, outlining challenges and proposing ways for all the baptised to be involved in charting a path forward. Source: NCR Online.
Recommended changes include overhauling training for future priests, greater lay involvement in selecting bishops, expansion of women’s ministries and a revision to Church law to mandate greater transparency and accountability throughout the Church.
The 51-page Final Document was approved and published after three years of tens of thousands of listening sessions, continental assemblies and two major summits in Rome.
It stops short of proposing certain dramatic changes – such as the restoration of the female diaconate or greater recognition of LGBTQ Catholics – that many reform groups have sought during the multiyear project known as the Synod on Synodality.
But neither does it close the door on such possibilities. The Synod’s document notes that access to the diaconate for women “remains open” and calls for a Church that does not exclude people because of their “marital situation, identity or sexuality.”
The document, which was produced by some 400 delegates from around the world, caps a legacy initiative for Francis – inviting one of the world’s oldest institutions to consider how it might become more inclusive and better capable of listening to all its members.
In remarks following the document’s approval by the Synod body, the Pope approved its publication.
Francis said that he hoped the document would be a “gift to the people of God.”
He said that he did not intend to publish an apostolic exhortation, a magisterial document typically published at the conclusion of the Synod offering the Pope’s own reflections.
Instead, he said, the document already contains “highly concrete indications” to guide the Church’s mission.
The Pope also noted the work of the special study groups on some of the most contentious issues that surfaced throughout the three-year process. Their work is expected to continue through June 2025.
FULL STORY
Synod’s final report calls for all baptised Catholics to shape the future Church (By Christopher White, NCR Online)
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