Pope Francis launches plan to follow up on synod

The Argentine Pontiff gave his approval to this project on March 11, from the Gemelli hospital where he is hospitalized for a serious respiratory infection.

In a letter published at midday on Saturday, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, stated that this is not a new Synod but a process of “accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase” of the Synod on synodality.

The final international assembly of this event concluded in Rome last October with a final document drawn up by the participants and ratified by Pope Francis, formulating suggestions for the Church.

The Vatican has released the schedule for this new phase, which will be detailed in a document to be released in May. For a year and a half, from June 2025 to December 2026, an implementation process is planned in the dioceses with the synodal teams already created.

Cardinal Grech urges the dioceses that have “invested less” in the Synod to “catch up.” He asks them to inform the General Secretariat of the composition of their synodal team. These synodal teams will also meet in Rome this year, from October 24 to 26, as part of the jubilee.

In the first half of 2027, “assessment assemblies” will then be organized in the dioceses. In the second half of 2027, these assessment assemblies will take place at the national level, then at the continental level in the first half of 2028.

The process will conclude in October 2028 with an “ecclesial assembly” at the Vatican. This assembly will be based on a working document scheduled for publication in June 2028.

In an interview with Vatican media, Cardinal Mario Grech explained that this ecclesial assembly is to be distinguished from the synodal assembly, “which is and remains essentially an assembly of bishops” - even though lay people have had the right to vote in the Synod since 2023.

Such an ecclesial assembly is a world first.

“Many points still need to be clarified,” admits Cardinal Grech regarding the organization and structure of this assembly.

In a note, Pope Francis had specified that the final document of October 2024 voted on by the members of the Synod was not strictly normative, but that it nevertheless committed the Churches to making coherent choices, as Cardinal Grech also recalls. It is in this context that Rome wants to follow its application, which must not be done “in isolation,” says the Maltese cardinal.

The final document in question outlines numerous avenues for decentralization in the Church, such as the obligation to have parish councils with lay people, the creation of new lay ministries, or the institution of deliberative bodies alongside the bishops.

Cardinal Grech emphasizes that the next four years of work will also be an opportunity to see the results of the 10 study groups set up by Pope Francis in 2024. These groups have been tasked with studying certain sensitive issues that emerged during the Synod: shared governance, seminary reform, the diaconate, etc.

These groups must submit their conclusions to the Pope by June 2025, but some “may need additional time,” the Secretary General has already said. At the same time, the reflections of the Canon Law Commission and those of the Study Group of African Bishops (SECAM) dedicated to polygamous people must also reach Rome.

This unexpected announcement of the continuation of the Synod demonstrates the desire of Pope Francis – who has not appeared in public since his hospitalization on February 14 – to make a reform in the governance of the Church a lasting reality.

At the age of 88, the Pope is thus setting the course for the next four years and ensuring that the theme of synodality endures. For some observers, this initiative, like the recent announcement of a consistory for causes of canonization, supports the idea that the Argentinian still intends to hold the helm of the Catholic Church.