VATICAN CITY – This weekend, Pope Francis is keeping up an ambitious schedule. Shortly after sunrise on Saturday, he celebrated daily Mass at the Santa Marta house in the Vatican; then, he attended an event at the Paul VI Hall marking fifty years of the Synod of Bishops; and, Sunday he will canonize four blesseds, including the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux.

The Historical Background of the Synod

Saturday morning, he delivered the main address at a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the permanent Synod of Bishops. His predecessor, the blessed Pope Paul VI, formally instituted that collegial body on September 15, 1965 when he promulgated his Apostolic Letter, issued motu proprio, entitled in Latin Apostolica Sollicitudo. On October 28, 1965, he signed the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, Christus Dominus. In the fifth paragraph of that document, he irreversibly anchored the newly created Synod of Bishops in the patrimony of the Council.

In the wake of the Council, Pope St. John Paul II promulgated the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which sets forth the legislation of the synodal institution in canons 342-348. There, Synods are described as “a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.”

Since the first synodal assembly of 1967, there have been fourteen ordinary general assemblies, three extraordinary general assemblies, and ten special assemblies. Their themes have covered the full range of pastoral subjects: Preserving and strengthening the Catholic faith,  evangelization in the modern world, catechesis, the office of bishops, priestly formation, religious and consecrated life, the vocation and mission of the lay faithful, and marriage and the family, among other concerns.

Pope Francis' Sense of the Synod

At this morning's commemorative event inside the Pope Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, the Pope elaborted on the concept of the Synod of Bishops in his prepared remarks, noting that the word 'Synod' ('Sinodo' in Italian) comes from the Greek words "journeying together." He stressed that "A synodal Church is a Church of listening ... It is a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn: the faithful, the College of Bishops, [and the] Bishop of Rome; each listening to the others; and all listening to the Holy Spirit, the ‘Spirit of truth’ (Jn 14, 17), to know what he ‘says to the Churches’ (Rev 2: 7).” Thus, an assembly of the Synod of Bishops constitutes a "convergence point of this dynamism – this listening conducted at all levels of Church life."  Laity play a role in the assembly, since they accompany their bishops through prayer. Yet, the bishops who constitute the synodal assembly have the task of imitating "true stewards, interpreters and witnesses of the faith of the whole Church, which [they] must be able carefully to distinguish from often shifting public opinion.” Together, the laity and their bishops attend to the voice of the Holy Father, since "the synodal process culminates in listening to the Bishop of Rome, called upon to speak authoritatively." Synods must always unfold cum et sub Petro because "the Pope is, by the will of the Lord, ‘the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful.'"

The Synod of Bishops at the Service of Evangelization: Mission, Testimony, Discernment

Synod Secretary General Cardinal Lorenzo Baldiserri spoke about the relationship between the synodal institution and the work of evangelization. In his remarks that introduced the theme of the gathering, he drew upon Pope Francis’ first post-synodal exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. He said that “Through the Synod – in which bishops from the whole world bring to the service of the Successor of Peter their counsel, their prudence and their experience – the Church intends always ‘to advance on the road of a pastoral and missionary conversion,’ by proclaiming with renewed haste to the men of our time ‘the joy of the gospel that fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.’ This conversion must be ‘capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world.’”

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna in Austria, the current President of the Bishops’ Conference of Austria, continued the reflections. He is participating in this month’s Synod at the personal invitation of the Pope. Reflecting on the “original Council” of Jerusalem, he offered three themes on the “road of the Synod of Bishops”: Mission, testimony, and discernment.

He said that “the most intimate purpose of the Synod as an instrument for the implementation of Vatican II can be only mission.” While the Synod of Bishops is not a council per se, “it must support the Pope in his mission to the Church,” feeding him and those gathered with him with renewed “enthusiasm for mission,” which was so dear to both St. John Paul II.

In this space intended for the renewal of the Church’s mission in the world, it is important – notes the cardinal – to speak from experience, not from abstract theological theorizing.  Pointing to the example of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas who “spoke of events and experience,” Cardinal Schönborn cautioned against losing sight of the richness of witness, noting that it is not good to “remain too often in theories, in ‘could be’ and ‘should be,’ almost never speaking of our experiences in a personal manner, about our experience of mission.” He applauded the lay faithful who delivered testimonies of faith this month during the Synod meeting in Rome.

It is only in this space of missionary zeal and testimony to the faith that it is possible to discern the will of God cum et sub Petro. The cardinal referenced the fact that “Pope Francis has always underlined that the Synod is not a parliament,” but “a new consultative organ at the level of the universal Church.” As such, it is a time to seek discernment that is not the work of a “political compromise” or “a minimal common denominator,” but an earnest search for a resolution of pastoral problems that can be made in and with the Holy Spirit. Here, he applauded Pope Francis’ updating of the synodal procedure, which he said reinvigorated the bishops’ missionary resolve.  

The Synod of Bishops and Europe

Following his remarks, prelates representing the five continents delivered speeches. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster in England, the current President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, spoke “about the Synod of Bishops from a European perspective and in relation to the impact of the Synod of Bishops on Europe,” thus providing an historical perspective.

The cardinal offered a personal memory of the kind of collegiality he is experiencing this month at the Synod. He recounted how he had arrived in Rome on the eve of the second session of the Second Vatican Council. At the age of 17, he was sent there to study for the priesthood at the Venerable English College where “all the bishops of England and Wales resided” during the Council. He remembered that “each morning the bishops came down the College staircase, one by one, and were collected at the door, individually, and brought by car to St. Peter’s Basilica for the day’s proceedings of the Council.” However, “By the third and fourth sessions of the Council … the scene had changed. Now the bishops came down by the stairs together, walking out of the doors of the College and on into the Piazza Farnese where they all entered a bus and travelled together for their day’s work. Now they were brothers in the Lord, bound together in the challenge of a shared task, being fashioned into an affective college in a new spirit flowing through the Church.”

That newfound closeness of the brotherhood among bishops that characterize the Council contrasted starkly with the air of division that earlier ranged across Europe. Speaking of the larger historical context of the twentieth century, the cardinal noted that in “the course of the 20^th Century, Europe was possibly the most clearly divided of all the continents. Two great wars and a long period of ‘cold war,’ two powerful atheistic ideologies, had rendered the continent and its people into powerful warring factions, wars that had cost millions of lives and fashioned inflexible attitudes and stereotypes in the minds of all.” As he described it, “Europe was not only deeply divided but also absorbed within itself.” This began to change at the Synods of Europe of 1991 and 1999.

According to Cardinal Nichols, the Synod of Bishops has offered a helpful response to that experience of division, since its meetings and work “have contributed to the dissolving our Eurocentric vision not only of the world but also of the Church.” In fact, he added that “Some may speak of it as the internationalization of the Curia,” but he stressed that “it goes deeper than that.”

Nonetheless, both the Church and the world continue to face certain challenges. Cardinal Nichols spoke about some of the problems confronting the Synod itself, noting that “It is difficult to measure the impact of the Post-Synodal documents. Some stand out … [but] others have had less impact.” He also said that “Relationships with the media, especially in western European countries, are always delicate, as a free, investigative press and a desire to control the flow of information are always going to clash.” Additionally, he indicated that “Patterns of consultation prior to these Synods on the Family have been invigorating but also frustrating.” In this connection, he opined that such is the case “partly because the questions were fashioned in a manner not conducive to a widespread response and partly because a public consultation carries with it responsibilities of accountability which we have been asked not to fulfil.” Even still, he judged that “despite shortfalls, the Synod of Bishops is a transforming gift in the Church, with even more potential yet to be realized.”

Remarks were also delivered by Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo in Mozambique; Cardinal Ricardo Andrello of Santiago in Chile, the current President of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile; Beatitude Louis Sako, the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans in Iraq and current President of the Synod of the Chaldean Church; and, Cardinal Soane Mafi, Bishop of Tonga, President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Pacific.

Several hundred faithful participated in the commemoration, including the Synodal fathers and fraternal delegates, priests and seminarians studying in Rome, and lay women and men representing a variety of ecclesial movements and associations. Although the event had the feel of an academic conference, the Little Choir of the Antoniano of Bologna, comprised of some thirty children, helped to create a joy-filled atmosphere.