2021-2024 · Vatican City

Synod on Synodality

Pope Francis launched the most ambitious consultative process in modern Church history, asking Catholics at every level — from parish groups to a global assembly — how the Church should listen, discern, and walk together.

In October 2021, Pope Francis opened a multi-year Synod on Synodality with a question that was deceptively simple: how does the Church listen? The process that followed was unlike anything in recent memory. Every diocese in the world was asked to conduct local consultations, gathering input from ordinary Catholics, including many who felt ignored or excluded. Those local reports were synthesized at the continental level, and the continental documents fed into two sessions of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, in October 2023 and October 2024. The word synodality itself confused people. It comes from the Greek synodos, meaning walking together, and Francis used it to describe a style of Church governance that emphasizes listening, dialogue, and shared discernment at every level. Critics saw it as a Trojan horse for changing doctrine on contested issues like women's ordination, blessing same-sex couples, or governance by the laity. Supporters saw it as a recovery of something ancient: the early Church made decisions through councils, not papal fiat. The reality was messier than either side expected. The final document, issued in 2024, did not change doctrine in the ways some hoped or feared. It called for more participation by laity and women in Church decision-making, greater transparency, and a permanent commitment to synodal processes at every level of Church life. Whether this amounts to real structural change or well-intentioned talk remains to be seen. What was new was the scale of the listening. Millions of Catholics participated in some form, many of them for the first time. Even if nothing else comes of it, the synod told ordinary Catholics that the hierarchy wanted to hear from them. What happens next will determine whether that was a genuine invitation or a gesture.

Why it matters

Launched the largest consultative process in modern Church history, raising fundamental questions about governance, participation, and how the Catholic Church makes decisions in the twenty-first century.