Pope Francis has written a letter to the world’s parish priests emphasizing the importance of becoming a “synodal and missionary” Church.
“I ask you first to live out your specific ministerial charism in ever greater service to the varied gifts that the Spirit sows in the People of God,” he wrote in his May 2 letter.
“With all my heart, I suggest that you learn to practice the art of communal discernment, employing for this purpose the method of ‘conversation in the Spirit,’ which has proved so helpful in the synodal journey and in the proceedings of the synodal Assembly itself,” the Pope continued. “Finally, I would like to urge you to base everything you do in a spirit of sharing and fraternity among yourselves and with your bishops.”
The Pope wrote to the world’s parish priests at the conclusion of Parish Priests for the Synod. The four-day Vatican meeting was announced in February amid criticism that parish priests were insufficiently included on the Synod on synodality.