By Linda Bordoni
Addressing the Synod Assembly on Saturday evening, Pope Francis highlighted how the Final Document, written over the course of the 2nd Session of the Synod on Sinodality that began on 2 October following a process of listening and dialogue, is the fruit of over three years of listening to the People of God. It reveals, he noted, a shared path forward toward a “synodal Church” that embodies the Gospel not merely through words but through every act and interaction.
This XVIth Ordinary Assembly of the Synod will officially conclude on Sunday, 27 October, with the celebration of Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Pope Francis.
A Threefold Gift
Pope Francis described the Document as a gift with multiple dimensions, serving as both guidance for the Church and as a symbol of unity and shared mission.
First, he emphasized his reliance on the bishops, underscoring the value of each bishop’s presence in shaping the synodal journey.
“For me, as Bishop of Rome, in convening the Church of God in Synod, I was aware that I needed all of you: Bishops and witnesses of the synodal journey. Thank you!” he exclaimed.
Recognizing his role as a listener, he reminded himself—and each bishop—that “the Bishop of Rome… also needs to practice listening, in order to be able to respond to the Word that each day says to him, ‘Affirm your brothers and sisters…Feed my sheep.’”
This act of listening, he said, is essential to cultivating harmony within the Church, a harmony envisioned by Saint Basil and the Second Vatican Council.
Guarding HARMONY, DISPELLING rigidity
Pope Francis emphasized the need for the Church to embody the harmony outlined in the Second Vatican Council, which speaks of the Church as “like a sacrament.” He explained, “She is a sign and instrument of our expectant God, who has already prepared the table and is now waiting.”
God’s grace, he said, “whispers words of love into the heart of each person.” It is up to the Church to “amplify the voice of this whisper, without hindering it; by opening doors instead of erecting walls.”
“We must not behave as ‘dispensers of grace’ who appropriate the treasure by tying the hands of our merciful God,” Pope Francis warned, calling for openness and humility.
And quoting from a poem by Madeleine Delbrêl, a mystic of the peripheries who encouraged her readers, never to be “rigid”, the Pope read some of her lines, describing them as “a prayer” and inviting the Church to live out its mission with openness, joy, and trust in God’s mercy:
“For I think that you may have had enough
of people who, always, speak of serving you with the look of a leader,
of encountering you with the air of a professor,
of approaching you with sporting regulations,
of loving you as one loves in an aged marriage.”
Thus, calling for a faith that is a “dance in the arms of grace,” Pope Francis invited the Church to live out its mission with openness, joy, and trust in God’s mercy.
Witnesses of peace in a broken world
Highlighting the Church’s role as a peacemaker in a broken world, the Pope said “In our time marked by wars, we must be witnesses of peace, even by learning how to live out our differences in conviviality.”
Recognizing the diverse experiences of bishops from regions scarred by violence, poverty, and suffering, he encouraged all to actively build peace through listening and reconciliation.
The Pope announced that he has chosen to not write an Apostolic Exhortation following the Synod, but he said, the Synod Document will be immediately available to all.
“There are already highly concrete indications in the Document that can be a guide for the mission of the Churches, in their specific continents and contexts,” he explained, expressing confidence that this shared experience would inspire “concrete actions that serve God’s people.”
A Church in which the Spirit breathes
The Spirit, he reminded the assembly, is the unifying force of the Church across all cultures, challenges, and hopes, and thanking the assembly for their participation, Pope Francis encouraged all Synod participants to carry the gifts of the Spirit into the world as a Church that listens, prays, and acts with humility.
“The Holy Spirit calls and supports us in this learning, which we need to understand as a process of conversion,” he said, adding that the synodal journey is “not an endpoint but a continuous process of conversion.”
Concluding, the Holy Father again quoted Delbrêl’s words: “There are places in which the Spirit breathes, but there is only one Spirit who breathes in all places.”
