So-called synodality will be the topic of the next ordinary Synod of Bishops.
“Pope Francis has convoked the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” according to Cdl. Lorenzo Baldisseri via a Vatican press release issued on Saturday. Baldisseri, as general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, is saying the theme of the synod — scheduled for October 2022 — will be “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”
Synodality, as it has been put into practice of late, has been a maturing concept since Vatican II, according to an arm of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called the International Theological Commission (ITC). Tasked in 2018 with clarifying the term, the ITC called it a “linguistic novelty which needs careful theological clarification.”
Bishops from around the world will again meet in 2022 in Rome as they did for the previous ordinary Synod of Bishops in 2018. That synod, the Synod on the Youth, focused on faith and vocational discernment of young people.
The 16th General Assembly in 2022 follows the previous 15 ordinary synods convened Pope St. Paul VI established them back in 1965. The synods under Pope Francis have been plagued by scandal, however, leaving many Catholics feeling they are “rigged” in order to produce a preconceived outcome.
Read more at Church Militant