SECRETARIA GENERALIS SYNODI

PRESS RELEASE

Towards the ecclesial Assembly in October 2028:

Guidelines published for the process of implementing the Synod on Synodality

Vatican, 20 May 2026

Four stages — Remembering, Interpreting, Guiding, Celebrating — will accompany the local Churches, the Episcopal Conferences and the continental groupings until the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028 at the Vatican. Two documents at the end of each assembly. A common question guiding the entire process.

To support the implementation phase of the Synod, the General Secretariat of the Synod is publishing today the document Verso le Assemblee 2027-2028: tappe, criteri, strumenti in vista delle Assemblee del 2027-2028 (“Towards the 2027-2028 Assemblies: stages, criteria, tools in view of the 2027-2028 Assemblies”). The text specifies the calendar, methodology and criteria with which the local Churches throughout the world, and their national and continental groupings, are called to share the fruits of the journey begun following the Final Document of the 2021–2024 Synod, leading up to the celebration of the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028.

The four stages of the journey

The journey, which will culminate in the celebration of an assembly at each stage, is divided into four progressive phases, marked by key verbs that highlight its ecclesial and spiritual purpose:

•    Remember — first half of 2027. Evaluation assemblies in the dioceses and eparchies, called to reflect on the experience of implementing the Final Document through a narrative account and a letter to the other Churches.

•    Interpret — second half of 2027. Assemblies of the Episcopal Conferences (national or regional), which will draw up a theological-pastoral report and a letter to the other local Churches.

•    Orient — first quarter of 2028. Continental assemblies, from which a forward-looking report will emerge capable of identifying shared priorities and orientations.

•    Celebrate — October 2028. Ecclesial assembly of the whole Church, in the Vatican, together with the Holy Father: the journey completed will be brought back to unity and entrusted to the discernment of the entire Church.

At every level, the Assembly does not constitute the final stage of the process, but rather a moment of celebration, evaluation, synthesis and, above all, a relaunch of the Church’s synodal conversion.

A common question

Guarding the unity of the process is a common question, which each stage is invited to address within its own context:

In light of the journey undertaken since the conclusion of the 2021–2024 Synod, and with a view to offering its fruits as a gift to other Churches and to the Holy Father: what concrete form is the synodal missionary Church taking, and what new paths of synodality are emerging in your community?

The fruits of each stage: the exchange of gifts between the Churches

The document makes clear that this is not a matter of repeating the Synod’s consultation, nor of adding further tasks to the life of the communities, but of re-examining what has already been experienced, recognizing its fruits and difficulties, and making the experience gained available within a framework of the exchange of gifts between the Churches.

The first two Assemblies (those at local and national level) will draw up two complementary texts: a document of reflection — the narrative account for the dioceses and eparchies, and the theological-pastoral report for the Episcopal Conferences — and a letter to the other local Churches, drafted during the Assembly itself. It is this latter document that serves as the concrete instrument of the exchange of gifts: each community offers what it has developed and is ready to receive what the other Churches offer. The continental Assemblies, on the other hand, will draw up a prospective report that will serve as the basis for the preparation of the Instrumentum laboris (working document) for the 2028 Ecclesial Assembly.

All materials are to be submitted to the General Secretariat of the Synod in accordance with a specific timetable: by 30 June 2027 for the diocesan and eparchial phase, by 31 December 2027 for the phase involving the Episcopal Conferences, and by 30 April 2028 for the continental phase, in preparation for the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028.

Words from Cardinal Grech

“What we are proposing to the local Churches,” says Cardinal Mario Grech, General Secretary of the Synod, “is not an additional task, but a time of shared discernment and thanksgiving, in which to re-examine together what the Spirit is bringing to fruition in the Church and to recognise the steps we are called to take. The Assemblies are not, in fact, a sociological consultation, nor a deliberative process, nor a technical assessment, but rather a profound ecclesial and spiritual experience of discernment: a moment of synthesis and renewal of the journey, so that the exchange of gifts between the Churches may become a concrete experience and synodality may increasingly become the ordinary style of ecclesial life in the service of the mission”.

Composition of the Assemblies, responsibilities and methodology

The document emphasizes that the composition of the Assemblies must be consistent with their purpose. In selecting participants, due attention must be given to the balance between men and women and between different generations, to cultural and ecclesial diversity — including priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, members of associations, movements and new communities, and lay people not belonging to organized structures — and to the presence of people living in situations of fragility or marginalization. Particular care is to be taken to involve parish priests. Where appropriate, representatives of other Churches and Christian Communities or of other religions may also participate. It is essential, however, that the people chosen be willing to support the process even beyond 2028, helping to ensure its continuity.

Responsibility for the process lies with the diocesan or eparchial bishop for local Assemblies, with the president of the Episcopal Conference for national or regional ones, and with those in charge of continental bodies at that level. Synodal teams, established at all levels, are responsible for its organization and coordination.

With regard to methodology, the document calls for the conversation in the Spirit — now widely established and practised—to be maintained as the preferred methodological approach.

Resources and support

The document is part of the implementation phase of the Synod, the third stage of the process outlined by the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis communio, following the consultation of the People of God (2021–2023) and the celebratory phase, which culminated in the two sessions of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023 and October 2024. Launched by Pope Francis with the presentation of the Final Document, this phase was confirmed and promoted by Pope Leo XIV. Today’s text gives more concrete form to what was already outlined in the Guidelines for the implementation phase of the Synod (29 June 2025).

Alongside the Final Document and the Guidelines, the process is also accompanied by the Final Reports of the Study Groups established by Pope Francis following the first Session of the Assembly, which are being published progressively on the website www.synod.va. The General Secretariat of the Synod will also make further working materials available and organize online training sessions to support those responsible for the process in the local Churches.

The Document on the implementation phase of the Synod may be consulted in Italian here

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