In an Apostolic Letter issued “Motu Proprio,” on his own initiative, Wednesday 1 November, Pope Francis said that in a “synodal, missionary and outgoing church,” theologians must also dialogue with other sciences and with members of other religions and that helping Catholics have a deeper understanding of the faith will be possible only if theology grapples with their questions and concerns.

The 41-page synthesis report, voted on paragraph-by-paragraph on 28 October, described its purpose as presenting “convergences, matters for consideration and proposals that emerged from the dialogue” on issues discussed under the headings of synodality, communion, mission and participation.

Although she died at the age of 24 in a cloistered convent, her passion for sharing the Gospel through her prayers and example led Pope Pius XI to declare her patroness of the missions in 1927, and her writings led St John Paul II to proclaim her a doctor of the church in 1997

Synod Member Renee Kohler-Ryan, Dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame has this week said that “there is a sense that things are tightening up, emerging, but through that process of hopeful patience.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, told reporters during an online meeting on Tuesday 16 October that he is willing to do “anything” to “bring to freedom and bring home the children” taken into Gaza during Hamas’ on 7 October attack on Israel, in which more than 1,300 Israelis were killed.

Download the PDF Friday 13 October, 2023 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, As I write this third “Letter from Rome” on a warm Thursday afternoon, here in the Vatican we are approaching the end of our first full week of work in the Synod. Last week, following the Opening Mass in Saint Peter’s Square, the Synod members began to explore the deeper understanding of synodality, t...

In opening the work of the Synod of Bishops at the First Assembly, Pope Francis has repeated what he has said many times that “the synod is not a parliament” where the ideas of opposing parties will be debated and voted up or down along party lines.

The Holy Father acknowledged that some people have fears about the Synod, but he asked them to remember that it is “not a political gathering, but a convocation in the Spirit; not a polarised parliament, but a place of grace and communion.”

Reports on the discussions, voted on in each working group to ensure they accurately reflected the work of the group, were shared with the entire Assembly on 6 October followed by individual remarks made to the assembly, each expected to last about three minutes.

The new Apostolic Exhortation, addressed “to all people of good will on the climate crisis,” is a follow-up to “clarify and complete” his 2015 encyclical because, he wrote, over the past eight years, “our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”