Press release at the end of the meeting to prepare the document for the continental phase of the Synod process 2021-2023 Frascati, Italy, September 21 – October 2, 2022
About fifty people from all over the world gathered in Frascati at the John XXIII Center to listen, debate and discern from the synodal summaries that were made out of the consultation of the people of God. Adopting the method of spiritual conversation, during the twelve days of work, the experts wrote the document for the continental phase of the Synod procession 2021-2023. At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis met with the participants in a special session.
“We come to you, at the end of a unique and special ecclesial experience that made us know the richness of the fruits that the Holy Spirit generates in God’s holy people. We are truly amazed at the great things that God does in His Church! … After we have sat for several days, to listen long and patiently to the voices of a people God, returning to walk with the brethren was a double joy. We, each of us in the part of God’s people with whom we walk, will be witnesses to the great things that the Lord does. We can say that the Church presents herself as a home for all, because the synodal experience we live leads us to “widen the space The tent “to truly welcome everyone”. This is what Cardinal Mario Gretsch, Secretary General of the Synod, said in his greeting to Pope Francis on the occasion of the special meeting that His Holiness granted to the participants on the afternoon of the second Sunday of October. This meeting with the Pope, which took place in an atmosphere of great brotherhood, came at the end of the twelve working days during which the group of “experts” prepared the document that will be presented to distinguish the People of God for the second phase of the Synod procession 2021-2023.
In the work focus, there were 112 summaries of episcopal conferences (out of 114), but also summaries of the Eastern Catholic Churches, religious orders, ecclesial associations and movements, the Vatican Chambers, and individual contributions received by the Synod Secretariat. An unparalleled answer from the local churches! In Frascati, participants attempted to make a collective discernment through the method of spiritual conversation as experienced by many groups in the first stage of the synodal process. Through listening and dialogue times, and public meetings or working groups according to geographic or ecclesiastical affiliation, the participants first identified these generative tensions, as they appeared in the summaries, and then arrived at a correct formulation of the document, through two drafts, cross-readings, discussions and corrections. Also, special attention was given to the spiritual preparation of the participants through the celebration of the daily liturgy and the liturgy with different times of prayer to open and accompany the meetings. The meeting was chaired by Cardinal Mario Gretsch and Cardinal Jean-Claude Houlerich, General Rapporteur of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, under the coordination of Father Jacomo Costa, a Jesuit, member of the Coordination Committee of the Synod Secretariat.
On September 30, this editorial group of men, women, bishops, priests, monks and laity joined the 15th Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops. The distinction made, both in terms of the large number of participants and the method used, constitutes a unique unit for the Synod Secretariat. The document of the continental phase, written simultaneously in Italian and English, was approved by the Council and handed over to the Holy Father. It will be published in the middle of October and sent at the same time to all the bishops as an answer to the people of God.