SYNOD ON SYNODALITY 2021 – 2023 •
With a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis will inaugurate the Synod on Synodality on October 10. —
Pope Francis will officially open the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican with the Celebration of the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica (Sunday, 10 October), preceded by a Moment of Reflection in the Synod’s New Hall (Saturday, 9 October). We all will be able to follow the proceedings in plenary session from 9.00 to 11.00 a.m. in live streaming with tele-radio commentary on Vatican News (www.vaticannews.va) in 6 languages (ITA, SPA, ENG, FR, TED, PORT) also from our own mobile phones (by downloading the VaticanNews APP) or on VaticanMedia’s youtube channel.
Reflection, testimonies, prayer
Saturday’s programme will take place in two parts: a first part in plenary session; a second part in language groups. Representatives of the People of God will be present, including delegates from the International Meetings of Bishops’ Conferences and similar bodies, members of the Roman Curia, fraternal delegates, delegates from consecrated life and ecclesial lay movements, the youth council, etc. Pope Francis will participate in the first part of the work.
The opening of the synodal process will also be attended by the members of the International Youth Advisory Body, set up in 2019 in the aftermath of the Synod on Youth (2018) whose final document called for the creation of such a body to strengthen the work of the Dicastery’s Youth Office (cf. no. 123). The group, made up of young people under the age of 30 representing all continents, plays an important consultative and propositional role, collaborating with the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.
All the people of God, present
The Holy Mass on Sunday 10 October at 10.00 a.m., presided over by the Holy Father, will inaugurate the Synod for the Universal Church and for the Diocese of Rome, with the participation of the faithful.
The Cardinals and Bishops enter in procession together with 25 representatives of the different continents, according to the following order: representatives of the different continents, Bishops and Cardinals.
Sending before the blessing: A group of 25 people representing all the people of God and the different continents approach the altar of confession before the Pope’s monition.
The group is composed of a visually impaired person; two religious, two young people from the youth ministry, a Congolese family; a permanent deacon with his wife and two children, a young man from the Romanian Latin rite community and one from the Indian Syro-Malabar rite community, a Lebanese Maronite chaplain, an engaged couple and two other couples, a young priest, a young man from the Roman Catholic Church, a young man from the Indian Orthodox Church and a young man from the Italian Orthodox Church.
It is a time of synod, a time of listening, a time to walk together. It is a time of the Holy Spirit.
Will we be present? Will the Synod be present in our prayers, in our meetings, in our shrines?
We are about to begin a synodal process “Towards a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”. This process was conceived as an exercise in mutual listening involving the entire People of God. #Synod
Pope Francis
