By Paschal Norbert
VATICAN CITY, FEBRUARY 20, 2023 (CISA) – The second and final session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops -the Synod on Synodality 2024, is scheduled to start on October 2 to October 27, 2024, the General Secretariat of the Synod has announced.
In a communique released on February 17, the Secretariat revealed Pope Francis settled on the dates “to continue the work of the Synod on Synodality on the theme: ‘For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission’.”
The Secretariat noted that the participants to the second session of the 16th Assembly will arrive on September 29 in Rome and the month-long meeting will be preceded by two days of spiritual retreat, from September 30 to October 1.
Highlighting the supporting role of the Roman Curia in light of the new Apostolic Constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, Pope Francis called for the collaboration between the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod to initiate study groups that will explore the emerging themes in the first session of 16th Assembly – Synod 2023.
“I therefore dispose that, according to the provisions of Art. 33 of Praedicate evangelium, the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia shall cooperate, “according to their respective specific competencies, in the work of the General Secretariat of the Synod”, by setting up study groups that will initiate, with a synodal method, the in-depth study of some of the themes that emerged in the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” the pope wrote on February 16.
He directed 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 pope wrote, though distinct in roles and identity, the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, the former which places itself at the service of the mission of the People of God assisting in the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, the individual Bishops and the College of Bishops, and the latter, which supports and accompanies the synodal processes established from time to time, all work to achieve episcopal collegiality and ecclesial communion in union with and under the guidance of the Holy Father.
