The Vatican has released the working document for the Synod on Synodality.
The 60-page document, known as the instrumentum laboris, will form the basis for discussion at the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops. Because Pope Francis has taken the extraordinary step of scheduling two sessions for this Synod, the working document could also guide the work of the second general assembly, to take place in October 2024.
The instrumentum laboris puts forward the model of a “listening Church,” and strongly encourages broader participation in decision-making. It also opens the door to debate on controversial issues of Catholic teaching. The document argues that more open discussion is a necessity: “Only in this way can these tensions become sources of energy and not lapse into destruction polarizations.”
The style of the document also signals a new approach to the deliberations of the Synod, including many “worksheets” for use in the discussions among the bishops—and the lay people who will be, for the first time, full participants in the Synod of Bishops.
[See Phil Lawler’s analysis of the working document, to be posted later today.]