Synod on Synodality Ends: Proposes Larger Role for Laity

By Courtney Mares Vatican City, Oct 28, 2023 The Vatican released the Synod on Synodality’s “synthesis report” on Saturday night outlining key proposals discussed during the nearly month-long assembly’s confidential conversations. The highly anticipated text was approved paragraph by paragraph on Oct. 28 by a vote of 344 Synod delegates, which for the first time included women and other non-bishops as voting members. The document, proposes a “Synodal Church” that implements synodality throughout Church governance, theology, mission, and discernment of doctrine and pastoral issues. The 42-page text, covers 20 topics from “the Dignity of Women” to “the Bishop of Rome in the College of Bishops.” For each topic, “convergences,” “matters for consideration,” and “proposals” are outlined. More than 80 proposals were approved in the Synod vote, including establishing a new “baptismal ministry of listening and accompaniment,” initiating discernment processes regarding the decentral