A group of 500 young Catholics in Ireland have sent a jointly signed letter to the Synod Steering Committee. – Originally reported 11 August 2022. The Committee is responsible for gathering and summarising responses to questionnaires for the Irish Synodal Pathway. The young Catholics wrote that they love the Church’s teaching, but their voices have Read more
From now on bishops will be expected to follow up and report their progress on the proposals delegates presented at October’s Synod on Synodality, says Pope Francis. The Synod’s final document must be accepted since it constitutes church teaching, says Francis. “The Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter and Read more
Up and down again, back and forth, forwards and back again. This is how the Synod on Synodality proceeded over two long years at the round tables, above all with the explicit non-dispute over the church’s controversial issues that had been removed from it. These are serious and will determine the real significance of the Read more
A new Catholic support network that will extend across the Pacific aims to take care of Oceania’s migrant workers, refugees and their families. The Most Rev. Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia (pictured left), who is President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania, (New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific Islands) says Read more
Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024. As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year. I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled Read more
Cardinal Victor Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, issued an apology on Friday after missing a critical meeting of a synod group focused on women’s roles in the Church. The absence, confirmed to the National Catholic Reporter by multiple sources, triggered frustration among some delegates. Fernandez absence sparks discontent Fernandez was notably absent on Read more
Bishop Anthony Randazzo’s address, delivered as President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops conferences of Oceania to the synod media on October 6th, 2024, brought to light several crucial concerns. The significance of his address cannot be overstated, as it sheds light on key issues that demand our attention not only around his two niche Read more
As the last session of the Synod on Synodality continues its second week, an interview published on Tuesday gives more insight on Pope Francis’s vision of the role of synodality in the Church today. It highlights some of the inherent tensions between the use of synods and the power of the papacy in modern Catholicism. Read more
The Catholic Church must move towards collective decision-making, and “the time of lonely decisions in the Catholic Church is over” according to Synod advisor Thomas Söding. In an interview with Vatican News on Saturday, Söding stressed the importance of unity. “For us, deliberation and decision-making belong together. For us, commonality in decision-making is also part Read more
The Synod on Synodality is now considering what is shaping up to be among its most contentious points: decentralising and regionalising church decision-making structures. One suggested option is to establish continental advisory and decision-making bodies with their own rules alongside or in addition to the existing national bishops’ conferences. This authority-sharing might even involve deciding Read more