That Pope Francis did not wait until the end of the Second Assembly to convoke the study groups, “shows that he has a heart that listens; he listened and is acting,” Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary-General of the Synod, told reporters on 14 March.

In a brief papal document released on 17 February, the Holy Father said that “these study groups are to be established by mutual agreement between the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, which is entrusted with coordination.”

The appointment is in conjunction with Archbishop Costelloe’s concurrent appointments as a Member of the Preparatory Commission, and as one of the nine President Delegates to the Synod.

The Council met at the Vatican on 5 December to discuss preparations for the Second Assembly of the Synod on Synodality, which Pope Francis has said will meet in October 2024. Exact dates have not been set.

In his second interview with Gerard O’Connell from America Magazine, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe speaks about the recent first assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome.

In the Gospels, highlights Archbishop Costelloe, we’re constantly being presented with the way Jesus approaches people, individual people.

“We see him encountering different people in the concrete reality of their own situations and responding to them in their situation. That’s what we’ve got to learn: the way of Jesus.”

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.

The two-and-a-half-page letter published on 25 October recounted the spirit and activities of the Assembly’s first session, held at the Vatican from 4 – 29 October and looked ahead to the Assembly’s second session, expressing hope that the months leading up to October 2024 “will allow everyone to concretely participate in the dynamism of missionary communion indicated by the word ‘Synod.'”

Download the PDF Monday 23 October, 2023 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, As I begin writing this letter, I am sitting in Saint Peter’s Basilica waiting for the Mass for the Feast of St Luke to begin. I will have you all, and those who are dear to you, in my prayers during this Mass. But I will not finish the letter this morning - it will grow over the coming days. The feast of...

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.”

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...