Timetable for synod’s October assembly in Rome released

The Synod on Synodality is a major project launched in 2021. On September 16, the organizers published the timetable for the work awaiting the 368 members of the second synodal assembly, from October 2 to 27, 2024. As last year, discussions will take place behind closed doors, and participants are bound by confidentiality agreements. 

The event will be preceded by a two-day spiritual retreat at the Vatican on September 30 and October 1. The retreat will be led by the Synod's spiritual advisors, Dominican priest Timothy Radcliffe and Benedictine nun Maria Ignazia Angelini. 

These days of prayer and meditation will conclude with a penitential vigil presided over by Pope Francis at 6 p.m. on October 1, in St. Peter's Basilica. The Catholic Church will ask the world for forgiveness for its sins, in particular the sexual abuses committed in its midst, explained the organizers. 

Pope Francis will officially inaugurate the synodal assembly on October 2 during a Mass he will celebrate in St. Peter's Square at 9:30 a.m. The first day will continue a few steps away, in the large Paul VI Hall, the assembly headquarters. 

In a three-and-a-half-hour session, participants will hear introductions from the pontiff and the heads of the Synod secretariat — Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general — as well as a presentation of the work of 10 commissions set up by the Pope on “hot issues” emerging during the October 2023 session. The study group of African bishops (SECAM) and a canon law commission will also share their progress. 

From October 3 to October 18, members will meet alternately in 36 small linguistic groups of around 10 people — known as “minor circles” — and in a full assembly, where everyone can speak freely for a limited time. Unlike last year, all the small groups will be working on the same themes at the same time.

They will exchange ideas along the lines of the Instrumentum Laboris — the text guiding the synod’s reflection, published last July. A new feature this year: the order in which topics are discussed at the main assembly will be put to vote.

Participants will take a break on Sunday October 6, Sunday October 13, and Saturday October 19.

During the final week of the assembly, work will focus on drafting the “final document,” the conclusion of two years of reflection. The first session in October 2023 resulted in a simple summary of the debates. 

The members of the Commission responsible for drafting the text — who will be elected on October 8 — will have already begun to meet in parallel with the work, on October 9, October 16, and October 20. They will present the draft document at the general meeting on October 21. 

On the morning of the following day, October 22, Synod members will be able to react to the text in the general assembly, before working out amendments in language groups. All amendments, which can also be drafted individually, must be submitted to the secretariat by 12:30 pm on October 23. During the October 2023 session, over 1,200 amendments were submitted.

On the afternoon of October 23, Synod members will elect the Ordinary Council of the synod's General Secretariat. This will be followed by a two-day break, during which the Drafting Commission will insert the amendments into the text. 

The final document will be read in session on the morning of October 26 and voted on in the afternoon, paragraph by paragraph, by a two-thirds majority. The day will conclude with an address by Pope Francis.

Various public events are scheduled throughout the month. On October 9 and 16, members can register for four forums with expert theologians. The themes range from the role and authority of the bishop to the relationship between Rome and local churches. 

On October 11, there will be an ecumenical prayer event with delegates from other Christian denominations. They are more numerous this year than last year: 16, compared with 12 in October 2023. The event will take place in the Roman Piazza dei Protomartyri, within the Vatican walls. 

On Sunday, October 20, in St. Peter's Square, all will take part in the canonization of 14 blesseds by Pope Francis. The 11 martyrs of Damascus, Italian priest Giuseppe Allamano, Canadian nun Marie-Léonie Paradis, and Italian nun Elena Guerra will all be proclaimed saints during a Mass. 

Finally, the Argentine pontiff will preside over the assembly's concluding Mass on October 27 at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica. 

In presenting the timetable, the organizers hinted that the Pope would publish a document summarizing the reflections of the proceedings. For the previous synods of his pontificate — Synod on the Family (2014-2015), Synod on Youth (2018), and Synod on Amazonia (2019) — Francis published a post-synodal apostolic exhortation.