According to the Synod Secretariat, the continental phase of the Synod process is not just seven continental conferences, but a real process of listening and discerning at the continental level. The end of this continental phase marks the end of the consultation phase, but the dialogue with the People of God does not cease.
(Vatican News Network)The Continental Phase of the Synod Process officially comes to an end on March 31, 2023: it is the second phase of the Synod Process, with which a large-scale consultation with the People of God takes place. This continental stage has been added to the first stage, the local ones of the diocesan and the whole country, in order to facilitate the listening, dialogue and discernment of the local Churches in the same geographical area. This is a great novelty in the Synod process. It is not just a meeting of seven continents, but also a process of real listening and discernment in the continental stage.
The continental phases are carried out in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. Each continental meeting of the Synod is entrusted to a local preparatory committee and is led by the International Federation of Bishops’ Conferences or the Catholic Eastern Church on that continent. The continental phase was accompanied by a task force from the Church Synod Secretariat.
The seven Continental Councils, which took place from the beginning of February to the end of March this year, are of great ecclesiastical significance; in other words, representatives of the People of God, namely bishops, priests, religious, consecrated persons, and lay men and women were involved , in response to the three major issues in the working document released on October 27 last year. The results of their discussions have been compiled into the concluding documents of each Continental Synod and will contribute to the first session of the Synod General Assembly.
The Secretariat of the Synod issued a statement at the end of the continental phase, stating: “The end of the consultation phase neither means the end of the Synod process of the People of God, nor the end of the process between the Universal Church and the Local Churches. The dialogue is interrupted. This means instead, leaving to the local communities the challenge of implementing those “synod reforms”, inviting them to implement them in the daily ecclesiastical action, aware of the many issues that have been discussed and identified at the local level until now , without the discernment of the universal Church or the intervention of the Magisterium of Peter.”
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