Delays in the Implementation of Synodality

Also: What Are the Synod Study Groups Up To?

One of the key questions going into the recent papal conclave was to what degree the new pope would follow Pope Francis in promoting synodality in the Church. It seems clear that Pope Leo XIV will remain true to that legacy, with a particular emphasis on the importance of listening, but the practical question still remains of how the implementation of the recommendations put forward in the Synod on Synodality’s final document will proceed.

On March 15, while he was still in the hospital, Pope Francis agreed to the details of an implementation phase of the synodal process in which local dioceses, episcopal conferences, and Eastern Catholic Churches would discern how they could become more synodal. In a letter sent to all bishops, Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, outlined this process. According to Grech, in May of this year, the Secretariat of the Synod was to publish a set of guidelines for the implementation process, and then local churches would have until December to discern their implementation plan. Throughout 2027 and into 2028, a procedure similar to the initial synodal process would unfold, in which plans for implementation would be discussed at the local, national, and continental levels. In June of 2028, an instrumentum laboris, or working document, synthesizing input from this process would be drafted, and then in October of that year an ecclesial Assembly would be held in Rome to discuss how the implementation of synodality is proceeding throughout the world.

Of course, May has come and gone, and no implementation guidelines have been published. There’s no doubt this delay is the result of the death of Pope Francis, after which all work in the Vatican was temporarily halted. But when will work on the implementation process resume, and how will the delay impact the schedule?

One potential clue is another delay related to the synodal process: the postponed release of the final reports of the ten study groups established last year between the two sessions of the Synod. Readers may remember that in March of last year it was announced that Pope Francis had established ten study groups assigned to tackle topics that were too complex to be fruitfully discussed at the Synod itself or that were too far afield from the Synod’s focus on fostering more synodal structures in the Church. These study groups presented progress reports to the Synod delegates in October of last year and presented a second progress report to the Synod Secretariat this February, although the contents of these latter presentations have not been made public.

The study groups were to have completed their final reports by June, but America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell has reported that the release date has been delayed, perhaps until October, as a result of the papal transition. This may be timed to correspond to the Jubilee of Synod Teams and Participatory Bodies, scheduled for October 24-26, one of the many Jubilee celebrations scheduled throughout 2025 as part of the Jubilee Year, in this case celebrating those who have participated in the synodal process. It would not be surprising, then, if the release of the implementation guidelines was postponed until October, as well, although that’s pure speculation on my part.

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Speaking of the study groups, we learned quite a bit about what they have been working on from their presentations at the Synod assembly in October, although Study Group 5, focused on women’s leadership in the Church, received nearly all the attention. The study groups’ reports were also, understandably, overshadowed by the work of the Synod delegates themselves.

As we wait for some official word on how the implementation of the Synod will proceed, however, I thought it would be worthwhile to summarize the questions being addressed by the ten study groups, as summarized in the reports given last October.

Study Group 1

This study group is focused on the relations between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church. The report notes that a large and growing number of members of the Eastern Catholic Churches live as part of various diasporas, often inhabiting dioceses in the Latin Church. This has led to various problems detrimental to the health of Eastern Catholic communities, including Eastern Catholics transferring membership to the Latin Church, Eastern Catholic priests being asked to serve in ministries in the Latin diocese to the detriment of their ministries in their own Church, pressures of cultural assimilation, and disputes over jurisdiction. Study Group 1 is therefore considering how healthier, more collaborative relationships can be developed between Churches in these situations and what Latin bishops can do to support Eastern Catholics in their dioceses.

Study Group 2

This group is focused on the theme of “listening to the cry of the poor.” Although the theme is broad and somewhat vague, the study group has clearly defined its goals: to consider how the Church can better listen to the poor and excluded, including people with disabilities, as well as listen to the needs of the earth, and also how the Church can better listen to those organizations working with these populations. For example, the group is considering how bishops can be better informed about the needs of the poor and how theologians can work in deeper dialogue with the poor and excluded.

Study Group 3

This group is studying how the Church can carry out its mission in the “digital environment,” that is, on the internet and social media. It is exploring broad questions such as how “digital mission” can be better integrated into the work of the Church, but also more focused considerations like what territorial jurisdiction (for example, that of a bishop) means in the context of the global reach of the internet and social media. For example, how can bishops exercise the oversight typically provided for Catholic associations in relation to an ostensibly Catholic group publishing videos on YouTube? Likewise, as Michael Sean Winters asks in a recent article at the National Catholic Reporter, how appropriate is it for a bishop to respond to trending topics on social media unrelated to affairs in his diocese?

(Photo: Claudio Schwarz, Unsplash)

Study Group 4

This group was tasked with considering what revisions need to be made to the Ratio Fundamentalis, that is, the guidelines for the formation of seminarians, in light of synodality, but as they point out in the report, this task was somewhat impractical considering that the current version of the Ratio Fundamentalis was only published in 2016, and many of the national plans for formation based on that document are still being drafted! They conclude, “It does not seem opportune, therefore, to think at this time of a rewrite of the Ratio,” a point Pope Francis himself made in 2024. On the other hand, there are important points that emerged in the Synod’s deliberation that need to be considered, perhaps in a new preamble to the Ratio: a greater balance between the spiritual formation of future priests and exposure to the ordinary life of Christian communities, and, most interestingly, shared formation with those with other ministries and charisms to promote co-responsibility.

Study Group 5

As I noted above, this is the group that is focused on women’s leadership in the Church, and as became clear at last October’s Synod gathering, the work of this study group is being carried out by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith itself. This group’s final report will not address the question of the ordination of women deacons, although the findings of two earlier commissions on the topic will supposedly be included in the document. Instead, the document will focus on defining the sacramental powers conferred by the sacrament of holy orders and what types of authority can be exercised in the Church without ordination. The document will also highlight Catholic women who held positions of authority throughout the Church’s history as examples of women’s leadership in the Church. Considering that the work of this group is being done by the DDF, the release of its final report may follow a different timeline than the other study groups.

Study Group 6

This group is focused on the relationship between the local bishop and communities of consecrated life (i.e., communities of religious men and women), as well as the relationship between the bishop and other forms of lay associations and ecclesial movements. The specific questions being considered by this group aren’t well defined in their October report, although perhaps the most interesting topic here is the question of the relationship between the local bishop and ecclesial movements, a category that is meant to include relatively recently established groups like Focolare, Communion and Liberation, the Community of Sant’Egidio, and groups associated with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, as well as more traditional groups like confraternities, Third Order groups, and Catholic Action.

Study Group 7

This group was tasked with considering the nature of the ministry of the bishop in light of synodality, but perhaps wisely given the broad range of that topic, they have focused on the topic of how the process for selecting bishops can be more synodal. In particular, they plan to address how the local church can be more involved in the selection process, for example through the involvement of the diocesan Presbyteral Council and Pastoral Council; how the ecclesial and social realities in the local church can better be taken into account when selecting a new bishop; and how the decision to select a new bishop can become more transparent.

Study Group 8

This group was assigned one of the narrower themes considered by the study groups: the role of the papal representative (i.e., papal nuncios and apostolic delegates). In their October report, this group makes clear that their focus is especially on how papal nuncios can better learn about the realities in the national church where they serve and communicate those realities to the Vatican.

Study Group 9

This group is responsible for considering the methods of discernment to be used when considering controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues. This is a huge topic, and it has never been clear to me in concrete terms what this group was tasked with doing. The October report does not make it particularly clear, either, and indeed it suggests that the group faced challenges in defining their task: “[T]he search for a path made up of concrete steps to be taken as a group proved much more complex” than defining the problem, they write. The report states that the group will focus on developing “concrete guidelines for discernment,” which could be promising, but then adds that they will be focused on two concrete issues, “nonviolent methods of reconciliation” and “the meaning of sexuality, marriage, the generation of children, and the promotion and care of life.” The latter, in particular, may prove immensely controversial, and is perhaps too much for a single, small study group to take on successfully. But we’ll see what the group comes up with.

Study Group 10

This group is responsible for thinking about how synodality can be integrated into ecumenism. They have helpfully focused on three distinct topics. First, they are considering how the exercise of papal primacy might be understood in light of synodality and with an ecumenical horizon. They are conducting this work in dialogue with the document The Bishop of Rome produced by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity last summer. Second, they are reconsidering the question of “Eucharistic hospitality” (that is, the reception of the Eucharist by non-Catholics) in the context of inter-church marriages and families, while also focusing on participation in other sacraments, as well. And third, they are reflecting on what ecumenism means in the context of the recent growth of non-denominational churches, considering that ecumenical work has traditionally been carried out among denominational bodies.

These ten study groups are all doing important work, although some topics are perhaps more interesting than others. It’s likely that some of the groups are nearly finished with their work, if not already done, given the original deadline for completing their work was this month. Although the reports from Study Group 5 and perhaps Study Group 9 may get the most attention, others like those for Study Group 3 on the digital environment and Study Group 7 on the selection of bishops will also discuss questions that will have a significant impact on the life of the Church. The question of how the Eastern Catholic Churches in diaspora can be sustained being considered by Study Group 1 also poses important ecclesiological and pastoral challenges. But we’ll have to wait a while before we know what the study groups had to say about these questions.

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Coming Soon…

• The Catholic Church in the United States must respond to the suffering of immigrants caused by the Trump administration’s policies, nor can it be silent about the abuses committed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement agencies. The ongoing protests in Los Angeles and other cities reflect the discontent of a large sector of the public. I’m still finding my words on this subject but hope to address it soon.

• I also need to wrap up the series on how the Church can be a community of conscience in light of those immigration policies, with the last article in the series focusing on how executive branch officials involved in immigration enforcement can examine their own consciences.

• I still owe readers a summary of the heresy of “Americanism” condemned by Pope Leo XIII in his 1899 encyclical Testem Benevolentiae. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, took his name in homage to Leo XIII, and although the choice likely had little to do with the earlier pope’s condemnation of Americanism, it is still striking that the first American pope has inherited that legacy. I’ll discuss what that means.

• And finally, I also owe readers my reflections on The Bishop of Rome, the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity’s document on the papal office in light of synodality. It will be a busy summer!