Between October 4 and 29, the first part or session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was held in Rome. The second will take place in 2024. 365 people with the right to vote have participated, among them, obviously, Pope Francis, who presided. The number of women with the right to vote was 54. In addition, there were numerous guests from non-Catholic churches and ecclesial communities. Based on the figures, it can be deduced that this synod has been conceived as a synod of the people of God, as an extension of the Second Vatican Council. The bishops have been the majority, but there have also been laymen and women, consecrated men and women, priests and deacons. This is a novelty in relation to the previous synods, initiated in 1967 by the will of Pope Paul VI, where the only ones with the right to vote were the bishops. For the first time, a representative group of people who make up the Catholic Church have gathered in a synod as the people of God to make the motto “participation, communion, mission” a reality.
On October 28, the final document that summarizes the results of the work carried out so far was voted on and made public. A synod is not a consultative or legislative assembly, nor is it a Parliament where majorities and minorities are formed. What is being voted on are not bills but proposals that have begun to mature in this first session and that will only come to fruition next year, after a period of reflection and discernment. The proposals have been the result of work carried out from below, starting in 2021, and in which diverse ecclesial groups from all over the world were involved. The responses arrived, through the dioceses and episcopal conferences, to the synod secretariat in Rome. It can be said that this synod has been built from below and not from some topics previously chosen by the experts. It is another unique fact that must be valued especially by the Catalan dioceses, which followed a similar methodology with the Tarracon provincial council of 1995, promoted by Dr. Ramon Torrella, archbishop of Tarragona and trusted man of Pope Paul VI. Between 1993-1995, the churches based in Catalonia anticipated what is now being done at the universal Church level, also in relation to women's votes.
The first lesson of this event is that the Church is a synodal reality, a living organism, which is born as a group of people gathered in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, on the day of Pentecost, and who, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, launch themselves to the mission. This biblical image has determined the synod, which wanted to be above all and above all a listening to what the Spirit says and inspires through each one and through all. In reality, the synod began with a few days of spiritual retreat for all participants, and the Pope has insisted time and again that it was about dialogue and “conversing according to the Spirit,” not simply exposing his own opinions. For this reason, the participants were distributed at tables of twelve people, helped by tablets, which allowed group dialogue and general dialogue.
This unusual distribution reflects, in the words of Timothy Radcliffe, “a diverse style,” which has favored personal dialogue and listening to others, in search of consensus. The synodal style practiced in Rome must be spread throughout the Church and each of its realities must adopt it as its own. Indeed, listening is one of the most repeated words these days of the synod. No topic has been closed – that is the work of the second session, in 2024 – but all the major topics have been opened, with respect, without stridency, becoming aware of the obvious difficulties and immense challenges that the Church and the world have raised. This methodology has surely meant that the synod was not “media” and that it went somewhat unnoticed. However, it was necessary to delve into the art of dialogue in order to grow understanding of the big issues on the table. The world situation, marked by armed conflicts in Europe (Ukraine), in the Middle East (Holy Land) and in Africa (South Sudan), intersects with the birth of a new era in history, in which the questions about the inexcusable peace between peoples, the complex relationship between technology and ethics, the necessary response to the suffering of the poor, those who live poorly instead of living.
All of this will be the subject of the second part of the synod. Meanwhile, the foundations have been laid for a building that must be consolidated as a spiritual and concrete construction, which takes into account the joys, desires and pains of humanity. The Church, with all its imperfections, is a servant as a servant of the Gospel. This is her mission.
