Ecclesial Assembly In 2028 – On the Global Progress of Synodality

Mar 16, 2025 | 0 comments

Cardinal Mario Grech

Cardinal Mario Grech – Secretary General for the 16th Synod on Synodality – has announced that Pope Francis has directed that there will be a post-synodal Ecclesial Assembly in 2028 – to report on the progress of synodality as a permanent ‘way of going’ for the Catholic Church from now on.

Seemingly discounting the possibility that recent illness may have led the pope to consider retirement, Cardinal Grech has explained that the pope has made the final report of the 16th synod “part of the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter”.  This means that “local Churches and groups of Churches must commit to implementing the document’s guidelines through “discernment and decision-making”.

Incorporating also the work of ten study groups set up to clarify particular questions, the Ecclesial Assembly of 2028 will share and assess global progress in that task.

Explaining that every Catholic community across the globe will now engage in receiving the final report in its own way Cardinal Grech emphasised “the commitment to an increasingly synodal Church within the horizon of the hope that does not disappoint.”

Preparations are already under way for Irish dioceses to engage with the 2024 Final Report report immediately, aiming at an Irish national synod in 2026 – and a pre-synodal national assembly in October 2025.

For the full Vatican News report, click here.

For Resources for Spring 2025 discussion of synodality click here.

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ACI’s Campaign for Lumen Gentium 37

The Promise of Synodality

What we have experienced of synodality so far gives ACI real hope that a longstanding structural injustice in the church may at last be acknowledged and overcome.

As all Irish bishops well know, the 'co-responsibility' they urge lay people to share - as numbers and energies of clergy decline - has been sabotaged time and again by canonical rules that deny representational authority and continuity to parish pastoral councils.  ACI's 2019 call for the immediate honouring of Lumen Gentium Article 37 becomes more urgent by the day and is supported by the following documents - also presented to the ICBC in October 2019.

The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church
It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God
It was for challenging religious hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church
Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

For the full story of ACI's campaign for the honouring of Article 37 of Lumen Gentium, click here.

Prayer

"Come Holy Spirit, Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen."

Saint Pope John XXIII, 1962 - In preparation for Vatican Council II, 1962-65.

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