With the Synodal Way, the German Catholics have already given a clear signal that they want more communal action by church leadership and believers.

This principle of synodality is now also on the agenda in Rome.

In this regard, the Vatican presented a preparatory document for the Synod of Bishops in autumn 2023 on Tuesday.

“For a synodal church: fellowship, participation and mission” is the heading, which clearly aims in the direction of more participation by laypeople.

Pope Francis will personally announce the formal start of the process, which will initially run for a good two years, at an opening ceremony in the Vatican on October 9th and 10th.

On the same days, the relevant debates start in the dioceses of the Catholic Church.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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By April 2022, thoughts and suggestions for the design and development of “the Church of the Third Millennium” are to be collected in the respective local churches and dioceses.

From this, a first so-called “Instrumentum Laboris” will be created in the Vatican by September 2022.

On the basis of this working paper, the process will continue in the second phase at regional and continental level, with significant participation from the continental bishops' conferences.

They will then prepare seven final documents at pre-synodal meetings by March 2023 and present them to the Vatican.

The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops will then develop a second “Instrumentum Laboris” by June 2023, which will serve as the basis for the work of the actual Synod of Bishops in October 2023.

The Synod in Rome is to agree on a comprehensive final document - in the third, universal church phase of the process.

This is finally presented to the Pope, who incorporates the suggestions contained therein in a post-synodal apostolic letter.

The papal letter will then serve the local churches as a guide for reforms in the church from 2024 onwards.

Arc to pandemic, climate change and migration

The document published on Tuesday covers a wide historical arc from late antiquity through the Middle Ages and modern times to the present day. His central argument is that the originally synodal, horizontal structure of the church of early Christianity has been lost through the process of vertical hierarchization. This development, branded as clericalism, is now to be overcome and reversed.

The document places the presence of the Church and the struggle for its renewal in the political and social context of our day. It mentions the pandemic, climate change and migration, but also the church abuse scandals. The synodal process does not correspond to a democratic decision-making process but should lead to consensus through constant listening to the word of the other as well as to the word of God and through prayer and reflection. The authors expressly demand to listen to those whose words have so far been barely noticed or completely ignored: women and young people, the poor and the marginalized.

The preparatory document for the Synod of Bishops and a Vademecum (guidelines) also published on Tuesday set rather approximate guidelines. The synodal processes that have already started - for example in Germany, Ireland, Australia and Latin America - are mentioned and appreciated.

How these individual processes are to be integrated into the overall process initiated by the Vatican in the Catholic world church is not specified.

Positive reactions in Germany

Despite many unanswered questions, the German Catholics reacted very positively to the document published on Tuesday. The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Bätzing, described it as a "milestone on the synodal path - worldwide and for the Church in Germany". Pope Francis continues to "consistently implement what he understands by synodality," said Bätzing on Tuesday in Bonn. He emphasized that the document "now also officially speaks explicitly of the 'Synodal Way' with a view to the worldwide ecclesiastical process" and honors the synodal processes that have already begun in several countries.

Bätzing called it "remarkable to find self-criticism in the text about the hierarchically motivated repression of synodality in the course of church history". The Central Committee of German Catholics also assessed the Vatican papers as strengthening the Synodal Way in Germany. “We have already done a lot of work here. And we put into practice what is called for in the preparatory document for the World Synod, ”said ZdK President Thomas Sternberg. “Francis wants a synodal church, he strengthens the principle of synodality. This is also a message to all those who believe that we German Catholics on the Synodal Way intend to split. "