April 1, 2023 / 12:20 p.m.
The General Secretariat of the Synod reported that the continental stage of the synodal process concluded on March 31, and indicated that the seven regional conclusions will serve as the basis for preparing the working document of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in October at the Vatican.
This second stage took place in the months of February and March, after a first stage of consultations at the diocesan and national level, and included the participation of bishops, priests, religious, and lay people.
In the case of Latin America, Celam carried out four regional assemblies whose conclusions are available on its website.
In its statement, the General Secretariat of the Synod explained that during the continental stage, the local organizing committees had the presence of at least one Vatican representative, “as a testimony of the closeness and desire of the Holy See to listen to the private churches”.
Likewise, he indicated that the conclusion of each continental debate “is included in the Final Document that each Assembly prepared as a contribution to the work of the first session of the October assembly of the Synod of Bishops”, which will be held from October 4 to 29. October 2023 at the Holy See.
“These 7 continental documents will constitute the basis of the An instrument of labor, the working document for the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. It is now up to the Preparatory Commission, created by the General Secretariat of the Synod, (for more details) to organize the working group called to elaborate it”, he explained.
The General Secretariat of the Synod thanked those who participated in this second stage and stated that “the conclusion of the consultation does not mean the end of the people’s synodal process, let alone the interruption of the dialogue between the Universal Church and the Particular Church.”
“It means, rather, leaving the local communities with the challenge of putting these ‘synodal reforms’ into practice in the daily routine of their ecclesial action and with the certainty that much of what has been discussed and identified up to now at the local does not require the discernment of the universal Church nor the intervention of Peter’s magisterium”, he stated.
The final documents of each continental assembly can be consulted HERE.