listening

In a letter addressed to the “People of God,” the assembly of the Synod of Bishops said the Catholic Church must continue discerning its future by listening to everyone, starting with the poorest and excluded.

Supporters and detractors of the synodal process to which Pope Francis has invited all Catholics are feasting in a bewildering ocean of voices and opinions. To be true to the process, participants in the synod should remain open to listening to all Catholic voices.

The continental phase of the synod has traveled across the globe with sessions in Europe, Oceania, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East in February and March.

More than 200 participants took part in the continental assembly in the Horn of Africa country, gathered at the continental phase of the worldwide synod in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 1-6.

Pope Francis urged the seminarians to listen to God by making room for him in their lives every day and praying in silence before the tabernacle.

The pope said the tasks of a journalist are “listening, translating and dissemination” with listening being the key first step.

The final document for the continental stage from North America, along with the contributions of the six other continental assemblies, will form the basis of the “instrumentum laboris,” or working document, to be released by the general secretariat in June 2023.

Cardinal Hollerich noted that the document for the current continental phase of the synod acknowledged the tensions in the Catholic Church but also insisted that, if the church is a tent, tension on the lines is needed to hold it up.