The official text and final document of the multi-year Synod on Synodality has been published: quieter on so-called “hot button” issues than last year, but instead urging a Church-wide reform in line with “synodality” – a word described as meaning a focus on ecumenism, listening, and renewal.
Divided into five parts and 155 paragraphs, the document will be issued to the whole Church. Closing the final meeting of the synod on Saturday night, Francis announced he would not be publishing an apostolic exhortation following the synod. “It’s enough that we’ve approved” the final document, he said, adding he would publish it immediately.
Under Francis’ own 2018 Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis communio, once the final document of a synod “is expressly approved by the Roman Pontiff, the Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter.”
The synod’s final document remains full of open questions, suggestions for future actions, and outlines of proposals for continued “discernment.” In this manner, the peculiar state emerges of an incredibly long process resulting in relatively few concrete results – at least on paper. Pro-LGBT campaigners will likely be disappointed in not having more concrete results, although some concessions are made in paragraph 50, as outlined below.
Continue reading at LifeSite News