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Press Release
For a synodal Church:
communion,
participation, and
mission
Final Document
of the Synod of Bishops
on synodality
Vatican City, Monday 30 December 2024 – The volume Per una Chiesa sinodale: comunione, partecipazione, missione (For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission, pp.200, €7) is available in bookshops. The final document of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, it was approved by Pope Francis on 26 October 2024.
The fruit of a journey of listening and discernment initiated in 2021, the text offers guidelines for a synodal Church, focused on communion, participation and mission. The indications contained are intended to guide the local Churches in the implementation of coherent pastoral choices, promoting unity and respect for cultural diversity.
An authoritative tool, the Document represents an invitation to further the synodal style as an expression of the evangelizing mission of the Church in the contemporary world.
In his greeting, at the conclusion of the work of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod, Pope Francis affirmed: “With the Final Document, we have gathered up the fruit of years – at least three – during which we set out to listen to the People of God, in order to have a better understanding, by listening to the Holy Spirit, of how to be a ‘synodal Church’ in these times. The biblical references at the beginning of each chapter set out the message by linking it to the actions and words of our Risen Lord, who calls us to be witnesses of His Gospel, with our lives more than with our words”.
After quoting from a poem by Madeleine Delbrêl, the “mystic of the peripheries”, which urges us not to be inflexible, Francis announced that he did not want to publish a post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation. “The Document already contains very substantial indications which can guide the mission of the Churches, on different continents, and in particular contexts”.
“What we have lived through is a gift we cannot keep to ourselves. The energy that comes from this experience, which is reflected in the Document, gives us the courage to bear witness that it is possible to walk together with our differences without condemning each other”.
Press Contact:
helene.destombes@spc.va
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