By Deborah Castellano Lubov

“Everyday Catholics with time will see a Church where they count, where they are important, where their talents, their gifts, their life experience, are important because they belong to the people of the baptized.”

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Relator of the Synod, expressed this to Vatican Media on this final day of the Synod on Synodality, before its concluding Mass tomorrow morning, as he discussed the impact of this gathering.

The Assembly’s final document was approved and presented at the Holy See Press Office on Saturday evening, and the Cardinal was interviewed after the conference.

Your Eminence, what novelty does this Synod offer?

The novelty is that the Synod is a process. The Synod started in 2021, and in fact, the Synod of Bishops of 2023 and 2024 were just the celebration phase of that process. Now, we give the discernment to the Holy Father who has to continue it, and the Holy Father has given it, in a certain sense of the whole Church, to the local communities. So the process continues even if this 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is finished.

What impact does the Synod have for normal Catholics in their everyday lives?

They will probably not see a change immediately, because changes need time, and the Holy Spirit needs time because he has to convert our hearts. That normally takes time because we put resistance. But they will see with time a Church where they count, where they are important, where their talents, their gifts, their life experience, are important because they belong to the people of the baptized. They belong to the holy people of God, and by their baptism and confirmation, they have received a mission. And this mission, we fulfill it together as a Church, local community, small community, parish, diocese, and beyond.

Anything else you would like to add, Your Eminence?

For me it was a joy and an honor to have been able to participate in this Synod, and I wish everybody could do the positive experience I have done of Synodality.