Brothers and sisters:

In celebrating the Jubilee of the synodal teams and participating bodies , we are invited to contemplate and rediscover the mystery of the Church, which is not a simple religious institution, nor is it identified with hierarchies or their structures. The Church, on the other hand, as the Second Vatican Council reminded us, is the visible sign of the union between God and humankind, of his plan to gather us all into a single family of brothers and sisters and to make us his people, a people of beloved children, all united in the unique embrace of his love.

Looking at the mystery of ecclesial communion, generated and safeguarded by the Holy Spirit, we can also understand the significance of synodal teams and participatory bodies. These structures express what happens in the Church, where relationships do not respond to the logic of power but to those of love. The former—to recall a constant admonition of Pope Francis —are “worldly” logics, while in the Christian community, primacy concerns the spiritual life, which enables us to discover that we are all children of God, brothers and sisters, called to serve one another.

The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to command, all are called to serve; no one should impose their own ideas, all should listen to one another; without excluding anyone, we are all called to participate; no one possesses the entire truth, all must seek it with humility and together.

The very word “together” expresses the call to communion within the Church. Pope Francis also reminded us of this in his latest Lenten Message: “The Church’s vocation is to journey together, to be synodal. Christians are called to journey together, never as solitary travelers. The Holy Spirit impels us to go out of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters, and never to withdraw into ourselves. Journeying together means being artisans of unity, starting from the common dignity of being children of God” (Lent Message, February 25, 2025).

Walking together. This is apparently what the two characters in the parable we just heard in the Gospel do. The Pharisee and the tax collector both go up to the temple to pray. We could say they “go up together,” or in any case, they meet together in the sacred place. Yet, they are divided, and there is no communication between them. They both walk the same path, but their journey is not a journey together. They both meet in the temple, but one occupies first place and the other last. Both pray to the Father, but without being brothers and without sharing anything.

This depends above all on the Pharisee’s attitude. His prayer, apparently directed toward God, is merely a mirror in which he looks at himself, justifies himself, and praises himself. He “went up to pray, but did not pray to God, but rather praised himself” (St. Augustine,  Sermon  115, 2), feeling himself better than others, judging them with contempt and looking down on them. He is obsessed with his ego and, in this way, ends up revolving around himself, without having a relationship with either God or others.

Brothers and sisters, this can also happen in the Christian community. It happens when the “I” prevails over the “we,” generating personalisms that impede authentic and fraternal relationships; when the desire to be better than others, as the Pharisee does with the tax collector, creates division and transforms the community into a critical and exclusive place; when one takes advantage of one’s position to exercise power and occupy spaces.

It is to the publican, however, that we must look. With his same humility, we in the Church too must recognize our need for God and for one another, practicing mutual love, mutual listening, and the joy of journeying together, knowing that “Christ is with the humble of heart, not with those who exalt themselves above the flock” (St. Clement of Rome,  Letter to the Corinthians , c. XVI).

The synodal teams and participatory bodies are an image of that Church that lives in communion. And today I would like to invite them, in listening to the Spirit, in dialogue, in fraternity, and in parrhesia, to help us understand that, in the Church, before any differences, we are called to journey together in search of God, to clothe ourselves in the sentiments of Christ; help us expand the ecclesial space so that it may be collegial and welcoming.

This will help us face with confidence and a renewed spirit the tensions that permeate the life of the Church—between unity and diversity, tradition and novelty, authority and participation—allowing the Spirit to transform them, so that they do not become ideological oppositions and harmful polarizations. It is not a question of resolving them by reducing one to another, but of allowing them to be fertilized by the Spirit, so that they may be harmonized and directed toward a common discernment. As synod teams and members of participatory bodies, you certainly know that ecclesial discernment requires “interior freedom, humility, prayer, mutual trust, openness to new developments, and abandonment to God’s will. It is never the affirmation of a personal or group point of view, nor is it resolved in the simple summation of individual opinions” (Final Document, 26 October 2024, no. 82). Being a synodal Church means recognizing that the truth is not possessed, but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must dream of and build a humble Church. A Church that does not stand erect like the Pharisee, triumphant and self-absorbed, but humbles itself to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge like the Pharisee does the tax collector, but becomes a welcoming place for everyone and each person; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains open to listening to God so that it can, at the same time, listen to everyone. Let us commit ourselves to building a Church that is fully synodal, fully ministerial, fully drawn to Christ and therefore dedicated to the service of the world.

Upon you, upon all of us, upon the Church spread throughout the world, I invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary with the words of the Servant of God, Don Tonino Bello: “Holy Mary, affable woman, nourish in our Churches the longing for communion. […] Help her overcome internal divisions. Intervene when the demon of discord snakes within her. Extinguish the sparks of faction. Reconcile mutual disputes. Attenuate her rivalries. Stop her when she decides to act on her own, neglecting to come together for common projects” (Maria, Donna dei nostri giorni, Cinisello Balsamo 1993, 99).

May the Lord grant us the grace to remain rooted in God’s love, so that we may live in communion with one another. May we, as a Church, be witnesses of unity and love.