Synod Update

Vatican, 12 September 2023

Dear brothers in the episcopate,

"The People of God have been on the move since Pope Francis convened the whole Church in Synod in October 2021" (Instrumentum laboris, 1), and now we have reached another milestone in this process that began with the consultation of the People of God. In a few days, on October 4, the Holy Father will open the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, "For a Synodal Church. Communion, Participation, Mission."

"Without prayer, there will be no Synod" (Pope Francis, Prayer Intention for the month of October 2022). The Synod is, above all, an event of prayer and listening that involves not only the members of the Synodal Assembly but every baptized person and every particular Church. Indeed, all of us are called at this time to unite in communion of prayer and insistent invocation of the Holy Spirit to guide us in discerning what the Lord is asking for his Church today. Therefore, I write to you, who are "the visible principle and foundation of unity" (LG 23) in your particular Churches and the first animators of prayer for the portion of God's people entrusted to you so that, from the whole Church "an unceasing prayer" (Acts 12:5) may ascend to God for the Holy Father, Pope Francis and for all the members of the Synodal Assembly. I ask you, therefore, to pray for other Synod and to urge unanimous and unceasing prayer from every Christian community in your Particular Church, especially the monastic communities. Prayer is one of the forms of participation proper to every bishop in collegial action and an eminent sign of solicitude for the universal Church (ef. Apostolorum successores, 13).

The different forms of prayer are but the multi-dimensional expressions for the Church's synodal life. First and foremost, prayer is listening. In opening the synodal journey, the Holy Father said, "The Synod then offers us the opportunity ot become a listening Church, to break out of our routine and pause from our pastoral concerns in order to stop and listen." (Moment fo Reflection, Rome, Oct. ,9 2021). The first step in prayer si listeningot the Word foGod, listening ot the Spirit. Therefore, the first contribution of every baptized person to the unfolding of the Synod Assembly will be listening to the Word of God and the Spirit in the conviction that the voice of the Spirit is the sine qua non for ecclesial discernment.