Pope Francis has spent more than a month in the hospital facing a serious medical crisis, but he is continuing to push for a more “synodal” Church.
Francis announced the Synod on Synodality on March 7, 2020, and it began with diocesan and regional phases, before holding the Vatican Synod on Synodality at the Vatican in 2023 and 2024.
Over that time, it is still unclear what “synodality” means in practice.
At the beginning of the process, Francis said synodality is “a style, it is a walk together, and it is what the Lord expects from the Church of the third millennium.”
In 2020, the International Theological Commission said synodality is “the action of the Spirit in the communion of the Body of Christ and in the missionary journey of the People of God.”
Admittedly, both these descriptions aren’t very clear. But if you thought that the discussions are over after the final synod gathering last fall, and that the definition of synodality can finally form a more definable shape — well, I’ve got a Winston Churchill quote from 1942 for you: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”
That’s because on March 15, Synod Secretary-General Cardinal Mario Grech sent a letter to the world’s bishops announcing another step in the synodal journey, decreed by Francis himself: A three-year phase focused on applying the synod’s conclusions at all levels of the Church to help integrate synodality into daily church life before an “ecclesial assembly” at the Vatican in 2028.
“It is a process aimed at fostering dialogue among Churches about the insights developed in the implementation phase. After a period of work at the local level (until 2026), the goal is to create, in a synodal style, spaces for dialogue and exchange of gifts among Churches,” Grech told Vatican News.
Grech said the new phase’s goal “is to ensure that implementation does not happen in isolation, as if each diocese or eparchy were a separate entity, but that bonds between Churches at national, regional, and continental levels are strengthened.”
He said the meetings planned for 2027 and early 2028 will lead toward an Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028.
“This final assembly will then be able to offer the Holy Father valuable insights — fruits of a real ecclesial experience — to aid his discernment as the Successor of Peter, with perspectives to propose to the entire Church,” Grech said.
And that sentence opens up a question: Which Holy Father?
Francis is 88 and has been in the hospital for more than a month with a major ailment. October 2028 is more than three years away.
With the possibility that a new pope might be in office, the “fuzzy” definition of synodality will play a role in those very meetings.
That’s underlined by the fact that among the general Catholic population, no one is really talking about synodality (despite the huge attention given to it by the “professional” Catholic class, we journalists included).
Francis himself admitted this fact over a year ago.
“I am well aware that speaking of a ‘Synod on Synodality’ may seem something abstruse, self-referential, excessively technical, and of little interest to the general public,” he said before the 2023 Synod of Bishops meeting.
Of course, it could help by looking at the history of synods in the Church, but that might also not be of assistance.
The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches have synods of bishops taking place for the election of new bishops and the establishment of inter-diocesan laws within each province. Eastern Catholic Churches also use synods for such purposes.
In the West, synods were often held in the early centuries of the Church, and included important theological debates. However, as the powers of the papacy grew, the synods became less common, although councils, like the “Ecumenical Councils” — which are arguably synods by a different name — still continued.
The Western Church also has diocesan synods — which used to be required to happen once a decade (admittedly, a rule observed more in the breach than in the execution) — involved both clergy and laypeople. Much like the more traditional synod, it involved looking at local diocesan laws and reforming them if needed.
More prominently, St. Pope Paul VI established the Synod of Bishops in Vatican II, which had no real authority at all. This synod could make “proposals,” which could be accepted or rejected by the pontiff. Soon, these meetings became talking shops, where many of the participants were more interested in Church gossip at the local restaurants in Rome than the official issue being discussed at the synod meeting in the Vatican.
In many ways, Francis made “synodality” almost a building together of several of these ideas, even if they don’t always fit together.
So what will “synodality” be after the 2028 meeting? Frankly, it will be whatever the Holy Father — whether Francis or his successor — says it means.
