Five U.S. priests will travel to Rome in April to share their experiences of parish life with the ongoing Synod of Bishops on synodality. The group — selected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as part of a 300-member worldwide delegation — also will speak with Pope Francis.
At least three dozen women will be voting members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October, Pope Francis has decided.
A recent Vatican News survey showed that currently 1,165 female employees are working for the pope, compared to only 846 in the year Francis took office in 2013.
Pope Francis in October of this year announced a second session for October 2024, saying he did not want to rush the process of discerning how the Holy Spirit is calling the church to grow in synodality.
“There is no way to be certain of the outcome of a process like a worldwide synod. Participants must be willing to be surprised, disappointed or even chastened by some of the feedback that comes out of local and regional deliberations.”
“We cannot stress this enough: Our lives find their meaning and purpose in Jesus Christ. Nothing else explains who we are, why we are alive and what we should be living for.”
In that speech, he focused on love, especially within the family, and on the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created, particularly for Vatican employees who have children to look after and parents or grandparents to care for.
Pope Francis is scheduled to formally open the synod process at the Vatican Oct. 9-10, the synod office said.
