The continental-level gathering that ended on Feb. 26 in Bangkok was the highest preparation level ahead of the Synod of Bishops, more commonly called the Synod on Synodality, which is scheduled to conclude at the Vatican in 2024.

"Synodality is a gift, and discernment is the heart of synodality," Xavierian Sister Nathalie Becquart, under-secretary to the General Secretariat of the Synod, said in a Feb 25 press statement.

More than 80 delegates from across Asia gathered for the continental-level preparations. They included representatives from 17 national conferences of bishops and two Synods of Bishops, representing 29 countries, covered by the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

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Recently released was the report of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' of Oceania Conference (FCBOC).

In January, a church group of about twenty representatives from across the Pacific gathered in Melbourne to synthesise the responses from around what the Vatican calls the "Oceania Continent"; the countries of the South Pacific, including Australia.

The group was tasked to bring Oceania's unique perspective to bear on the global synodal process, saying their goal was to look at the global event "through the eyes" of the people of 'the continent'.

CathNews was told the Oceania Continent Synod document was discussed at the recent FCBOC meeting in Suva, but when, through a third party, CathNews asked when the New Zealand Church might see the synodal document she was told it could be published 'anytime between now and some weeks'.

New Zealand's representatives: Fr Dennis Nacorda (Levin), Dr Thérèse Kiely (Auckland) and Mrs Anne Dickinson (Wellington)

Also at the FCBOC meeting was Sr Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops.

She was visiting from Rome.

"It is clear that the Church is unfolding in a local culture, whereas we often have a very Eurocentric vision of the Church," said Becquart.

She was particularly taken by the youthful expression of Church in the South Pacific, commenting it is very different from the 1,500 or 2,000-year-old traditions elsewhere in the world.

"One of the requests was to bring out an Oceanian theology, a sign of the need to anchor the Church in local realities... and the indigenous populations are very present, with celebrations marked by a great sense of inculturation."

"This region is probably also home to the youngest Church in the world, where there are still missionaries. Some islands were evangelised in the 1950s, just before or after the Second Vatican Council.

Sr Nathalie Becquart

"For those of us coming from Rome, we experienced a young Church there. The concerns are not very different from elsewhere, but they are expressed with a different intensity.

"The people in Oceania are experiencing climate change in a very intense way. They have a very strong link with this territory and losing their land means losing their identity. It is terrible. This dynamic of the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor was present in the reflections all week.

"It is clear that the Church is unfolding in a local culture, whereas we often have a very Eurocentric vision of the Church. One of the requests was to bring out an Oceanian theology, a sign of the need to anchor the Church in local realities."

Becquart said she thought it was too early to say how the different 'Oceania Continent' approaches will be integrated into the overall Synod.

"We need to see what emerges from there and elsewhere. The working document that will be developed afterwards will bring out the voice of the Church from the various continents, with what unites them and what differentiates them."

Becquart confirmed that the Synod path is not mapped out in advance.

Source

• La Croix
• NZCBC
• Supplied

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary of the synod, and the office's two undersecretaries, Xaviere Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart and Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, held the meetings June 14-18 in sessions divided by language.

Revisions to the synod process were announced May 21. Pope Francis asked that it begin with consultations with lay people on the diocesan level. The discussion and discernment would then move to a national level and then the 2023 synod assembly itself.

"Without this consultation, there would be no synodal process, because the discernment of pastors, which constitutes the second phase, emerges from listening to the people of God," Grech had explained in May.

After the first couple of meetings with leaders of bishops' conferences, the cardinal said the reaction was "surprising, very positive, and there is a lot of enthusiasm among the bishops we have heard."

Grech told Vatican News, not much is set in stone. "We have some general ideas, but we are open, as this is not a fixed process. We are listening to our partners because the synod is not a project of the secretariat but of the church."

The expanded consultation, listening and discernment, he said, is the desire of Francis. But it is based on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that the church is the people of God.

The Synod, which presents itself as a real "synodal time", will be opened by Pope Francis on 9-10 October 2021.

The synodal journey will then be marked by three phases:
- a diocesan phase (October 2021 - April 2022) during which each individual faithful can participate in the diocesan consultation. This phase will end locally with a pre-synodal assembly: the culminating moment of diocesan discernment;
- a national phase during which discernment will be entrusted mainly to the Episcopal Conferences;
- a continental phase (September 2022 - March 2023) which will discuss the text of the first Instrumentum Laboris.

Finally, the synodal journey will culminate with the celebration of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme "For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

Vatican News

Sister Nathalie Becquart said during a news conference that her appointment as an undersecretary in the Vatican's Synod of Bishops office was a "brave signal and prophetic decision" by Pope Francis, who has repeatedly stressed the need for women to have a greater say in church governance.

"What I hope is that this will be seen also in the field, in the dioceses, in the parishes," she said. "I hope this act will encourage other bishops, priests, religious authorities, and that all this will include women more and more."

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Xaviere Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, from France, will have voting rights in the body, which advises the pontiff. The Synod debates some of the most controversial issues in the Roman Catholic Church.

Sister Becquart will not be the first woman undersecretary of a major Vatican office, but she will be the first woman with a right to vote at a meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

The pope made the appointment on Feb 7, while also naming Father Luis Marín de San Martín, a 59-year-old Augustinian friar from Spain, to the same position. The priest will also be ordained a bishop.

The new co-undersecretaries will share the No. 2 post in the Synod secretariat. The body is headed by Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, the 63-year-old secretary-general.

"During the last Synod assemblies, numerous Synodal Fathers emphasized the need that the entire Church reflect on the place and role of women within the Church," Cardinal Grech told official Vatican Media.

"With the appointment of Sister Nathalie Becquart, and the possibility that she will participate with the right to vote, a door has been opened. We will then see what other steps could be taken in the future," the cardinal added.

He noted that the decision reflects the Pope's desire "for a greater participation of women in the process of discernment and decision-making in the church".

The news comes less than a month after Pope Francis formally changed the Church's law to allow women to administer communion and serve at the altar. However, the decree stressed that ordained priesthood would remain open to men only.

In 2020, the pontiff appointed six women to the council which oversees the Vatican's finances.

Sources

BBC

Catholic News Service

La Croix International

Until now the secretariat's all-male board has been limited to priests and a bishop.

The secretariat prepares major meetings of world bishops held every few years on a different topic.

Catholic women's groups are welcoming the appointments.

"It is great news because until now there were no structures for women to have an influence on synods while they are being prepared," says a spokesperson for an international advocacy group promoting a greater role for women in the Church.

Under Pope Francis's pontificate, the synod - which was founded more than 50 years ago - has become fundamental to setting the Church's pastoral agenda.

Catholic women's groups are welcoming the appointments.

Now he has appointed four women - three of them religious sisters - to act as consultants, offering advice and strategic direction to the body which organises the synod of bishops gatherings.

The women are:

• Sr Nathalie Becquart, a former director of youth evangelisation and vocations for the French bishops conference
• Sr Alessandra Smerilli, an economics lecturer at the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences "Auxilium". Last month she was named by the Pope as an adviser to the Vatican City State's administration. She is the first woman to hold such a position.
• Sr Maria Luisa Berzosa, the director of the educational institute of the Spanish branch of "Fe y Alegría" (Faith and Joy).
• Professor Cecilia Costa, a sociology lecturer at Roma Tre University.

Two priests, Fr Giacomo Costa and Fr Rossano Sala, have also been appointed as consultants. Both served as special secretaries to last October's youth synod.

The four women also attended the youth synod.

Nathalie says the appointments reflect Francis's desire for greater female representation at senior levels in the Church.

"He is asking for more women in leadership positions.

"I think Pope Francis, and many people [in Rome] are aware that things have to change."

Nathalie says the importance of a voice for women in the Church came through powerfully during the youth synod - at which women's rights was a recurring theme - and that changes are underway for this October's Pan-Amazon region synod.

Women, religious and lay people are already involved in the preparatory committees for the gathering, and the role of women is in the preparatory document, Nathalie says.

In her view, implementing "synodality" is essential for the Church's future.

"My main expectation [for the new role] is to help promote a synodal church.

"Synodality is key today for the reform of the Church, and we know it is key for Pope Francis.

"The great challenge is to implement synodality at every level of the Church's life."

At present, the synod of bishops is being pressured to allow women to vote during its proceedings. According to current rules, however, women can attend synods only as advisers or observers.

Throughout his pontificate, the Pope has sought to appoint more women to positions in the male-dominated Vatican.

He named the first ever woman consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, along with two female undersecretaries at the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

He also chose the first female deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, Paloma Garcia Ovejero - although she resigned her position at the end of last year.

Source

• The Tablet
• Reuters
• Image: The Tablet