During October 2024, the Vatican is hosting the second session of the Synod on Synodality under the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” Pope Francis has called on nearly 400 representatives of the entire People of God to collectively discern the mission of the Church.

“Synod” comes from two Greek words which mean together and road, so the combination conveys the idea of “walking together”. There’s a rich history of synodality in the Eastern Churches, and some Protestant denominations use the word as a synonym for “council”. But today in the Catholic Church, “synod” conveys more. Following the teaching of Pope Francis (who bases himself on Vatican II), synodality points to the active participation of all the faithful in the life and mission of the Church. It is at work in a worldwide process running from 2021 to 2024 to prepare for and conduct the Synod on Synodality. This is allowing the Catholic Church to learn about synodality by practicing it (rather than addressing it through teachings and documents), testing it and improving it.

People often perceive the Church as very vertical – with power flowing downwards from the top, and the bottom level, the laity, having no power at all. But synodality empowers all the Church’s members – men and women, young and old, the clergy, the Bishops and the Pope, each according to their calling and all under God’s guidance. Everyone is welcome to contribute to setting the course, to making choices, to finding the way forward, and then the appropriate authority makes the final decision.

At the heart of the synodal process is encountering others, listening, and getting beyond divisive differences. Such honest dialogue is what the Church needs now, and societies need even more badly. From 2025 onwards, synodality will become more and more the usual way in which the Church carries out its mission and handles its affairs.

Cardinal Michael Czerny S.J. – Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development