When Francis was elected pope in 2013, “synodality” was a technical term used mostly by ecclesiologists and Church historians. But a synodal Church was the hope of many who did not have the word for it. The conclusion of the second assembly in October did not necessarily satisfy those hopes. But the process and the Final Document suggest that Catholicism is moving in the direction of a more communional, participatory, and missionary Church—if slowly.
The assemblies of October 2023 and October 2024 had the difficult task of slowing down runaway local synodal experiences (Germany, for example) while at the same time spurring synodal momentum in churches where it was lacking (including some U.S. dioceses). The model Pope Francis had in mind was Latin American, infused with Jesuit practices. The process has been complex—conversations at the local, national, and continental levels, and then at the central level. It differed from previous synods and Vatican II, where the restitutio to the local churches of what was elaborated at the center took place formally only at the end of the Synod’s assembly in Rome. But there was a sensible improvement from the first assembly to the second. The first took the form of a “conversation in the Spirit,” with little or no integration of theological expertise. But the intersession and the second session of October 2024 corrected this in important ways—providing evidence that theology still matters.
Another difference from previous synods was the way information was imparted to the public. In the past, the speeches that participants delivered during the proceedings provided a view of what was developing. This time, the media had limited access to the proceedings, so as to allow participants to speak more freely while also encouraging them to focus on the spiritual dimension—while also limiting the likelihood of it being covered as a media event (this succeeded only in part). But there were daily press conferences with speakers chosen by the Synod’s leaders. The feed available to the public had a feel akin to a World Youth Day split: between the 350 attendees and their followers “sharing” their enthusiasm, and the rest of the Church that was not in Rome. The social dynamics of the “peri-council” at Vatican II and its predecessors—theological work in informal meetings and evening lectures—turned into the social-media Synod: selfies and photos of colleagues’ and friends’ reunions, dinners, and gelato. Synodality as communion and participation now must take into account the digitalization of religious and ecclesial identities—a reality that simply didn’t exist at synods of Francis’s predecessors.
The Church’s work on synodality since 2021, locally and in Rome, has been important. If the Synod on Synodality didn’t settle on a clear preference for a theory or theology of synodality, it did settle on a style: one based on Vatican II.
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