Vatican:

As the Synod on Synodality is still working toward its final session scheduled for October 2024, the churches are being asked to consider the Synthesis Report released in October 2023, urging additional engagement and contributing to the assembly the following year.

In anticipation of the second and final session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality next year, Cardinals Mario Grech and Jean-Claude Hollerich write to bishops worldwide outlining the next steps in the synodal process. The bishops received a document from the Secretariat of the Synod alongside a letter from the General Secretary and Relator General.

The four-page text emphasizes the significance of the experience that participants in the Synod's first session in October of this year had, reminding that “their account constitutes an inalienable part of the gift we have received, conveying the richness of an experience that no text can condense.”

The letter also reminded that the synodal process will continue with what the Holy Father had said, “the Synod is about synodality, and not about this or that theme”, and that the “important thing is how the reflection is done, that is, in a synodal way.” The document states that some of the specific concerns that have emerged thus far require consideration at the level of the Universal Church and in cooperation with the Roman Curia's Dicasteries.

These issues include the initial investigation for the updating of the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Rites of the Church and the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Rite; the Ratio Fundamentalis regarding the training of ordained ministers; the document "Mutuae Relationes" regarding the interactions between bishops and religious in the Church; or the expansion of pastoral and theological studies regarding the diaconate, particularly regarding the admission of women.

The document also makes it clear that the process must reflect on the actual forms of missionary commitment to which the Church is called, which express the synodal Church's unique dynamic between unity and diversity rather than being restricted to a plan of technical or procedural changes to make the Church's structures more efficient.

The document further clarifies that the work will not be started from scratch, so the listening and consultation procedure from the initial 2021–2023 stage will not be repeated. The bodies of the Episcopal Conferences and the Oriental Churches will be entrusted with compiling the contributions from the Dioceses or Eparchies and creating an 8-page maximum summary, which must be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod by May 15, 2024.