Rome (Italy). The Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality will be held in Rome from 2 to 27 October 2024, on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission”.
Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod Secretariate, at the opening of the Press Conference of the presentation of the Synod work, recalled the deep significance of this important moment of the Church:
“The Synod is first and foremost a time of prayer. The first listening we need is listening to the Lord, to His Word entrusted to the Sacred Scriptures, to His Spirit who speaks to the hearts of believers. It is this ‘original’ listening that then makes us capable of authentically listening to each other, recognizing the voice of the Spirit in what the other says. So much so as to make us capable of daring to the convergence that is the heart of every synodal process.”
He then recalled the role of the Holy Spirit, through the words spoken by Pope Francis on 9 October 2021, at the opening of the Synodal Path: “the protagonist of the Synod is the Holy Spirit. If there is no Spirit, there will be no Synod. […] may this Synod once be inhabited by the Spirit! […] The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us where God wants and not where our ideas and personal tastes would take us.”
Precisely for this reason, as in the First Session, the work will be preceded by two days of retreat to be held in the Vatican, in the New Synod Hall, on September 30 and October 1, with meditations by the Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe and by Mother Ignazia Angelini, a Benedictine, who will also animate the prayer during the days of the Synod, together with the Camaldolese Father Matteo Ferrari, responsible for the liturgies, and the monks of Camaldoli.
A new feature is the Penitential Vigil, on the evening of October 1, in St. Peter’s Basilica, which will conclude the two-day retreat and will be presided over by the Holy Father. “The event,” specifies Cardinal Grech, “organized jointly by the General Secretariat of the Synod and the Diocese of Rome in collaboration with the Union of Superiors General and the International Union of Superiors General, will be open to the participation of all, especially young people, who always remind us how the proclamation of the Gospel must be accompanied by credible testimony, are the first who desire to offer to the world together with us.”
Praying synodally, recognizing sins, keeping vigil is the meaning of this other significant moment “on the eve of such a solemn Church event as the Synod” in which, explains the Cardinal, “some of the sins that most arouse pain and shame will be called by name, invoking the mercy of God.” After listening to three testimonies of people who have suffered due to some of these sins, a confession for various types of sin will take place and, at the end, on behalf of all Christians, the Holy Father will address “a request for forgiveness to God and to the sisters and brothers of all humanity.”
This year too, the experience of ecumenical prayer will be repeated with a vigil, on the evening of October 11, together with Pope Francis, the 16 Fraternal Delegates and various other representatives of Churches and Ecclesial Communities present in Rome. Prepared by a team composed of the General Secretariat of the Synod and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity with the brothers of the Taizé Community, it will take place in the Vatican, in Piazza of the Protomartyrs, where according to tradition the martyrdom of the apostle Peter took place.
“The date of 11 October was chosen to commemorate 11 October, 62 years ago, when the Second Vatican Council solemnly opened, which inaugurated a new ecumenical season for the Catholic Church, of which the current Synod is an expression and testimony, in the active desire to help the entire Church advance on the path to full unity,” specifies the Cardinal.
Entering into the merit of the work, the Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, Special Secretary of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod, illustrated the methodology “that helps, supports, is at the service of the entire process”, trying to answer the question, “How is the journey together of the Church realized and to what steps does the Spirit call us?” and to study in-depth what emerged from the second consultation on how to be a synodal Church in mission.
“This session will be, not so much like the first one – which was knowledge and identification of some priorities, making room for the richness of the experience of the whole Church; here it is a question, starting from all these years of listening, of trying to focus in a more in-depth way on the issues. Starting from the instrumentum laboris which gathers the journey, it is a question of identifying, in a climate of prayer, what deserves to be accepted in the final document and what can be dropped, and of deepening what needs to be so. It is this discernment, this going into depth in what the Churches have offered, in order to offer the Holy Father horizons, steps to take, concentrating on the main points.”
Cardinale Jean-Claude Hollerich, Jesuit, General Rapporteur, instead presented list of participants at the Second Session: “368 of whom 272 invested by the episcopal Munus and 96 non-Bishops”.
Among the experts – theologians, facilitators, communicators – as in the previous Session, the Mother Emeritus of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sister Yvonne Reungoat, will also be present as a facilitator. “I am called to facilitate the expression, discernment, and good progress of the work in the groups, so that the Synod can make a good contribution to the continuity of the Church’s journey. I will do so by carrying in my heart the entire Institute and all the young men and women. I count on your prayers and I thank you in advance,” she said in an interview.
On 2 October, on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, in St. Peter’s Square the solemn Eucharistic concelebration of the opening of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will take place, with Pope Francis.
In the same interview, Mother Yvonne had encouraged us to join in prayer with this great Church event:
“We are all called at this moment to unite in the communion of prayer and in the insistent invocation of the Spirit, so that He may guide us in discerning what the Lord is asking of His Church today. (…) May everyone feel that it is not just an event that takes place in the Vatican, but rather an event in which we participate with prayer and with the desire to make the attitude of walking together grow in us, to bring our contribution to the Church.”
To follow the Synod: synod.va
