Malaysian scholar Fr. Clarence Devadass was enthusiastic in his assessment of the synodal process that began with the parish, diocesan, national, and continent levels in 2021 and synthesized at the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2024 in Rome. Fr. Devadass served on the commission in Rome that drafted the Synod’s Final Document.
“There’s never been such an extensive consultation in the Church,” he said. Listening to as many people as possible, especially today when people feel very disconnected from the Church, according to Fr. Devadass, is “a good way of moving forward.”
The synodal experience was amazing for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC). FABC comprises 17 Episcopal Conferences and 12 Synods of Oriental Churches and, according to its leadership, there is hope to welcome the Church in mainland China into the FABC membership soon.
In its continental report, FABC says that the synodal process has been well received and facilitated in Asian countries. At the national level, the 2024 Synodal Report of the Philippine Church was also optimistic, saying that each of the more than 86 dioceses and prelatures reached hundreds of people in its parish and diocesan consultation. The Diocese of Novaliches reached 1,200 people, and the Diocese of San Carlos consulted 5,200 people, with four to eight hours of reflection sessions.
THE FINAL DOCUMENT
Were the local conversations powerful indications that every baptized has a say in the affairs of the Church? Yes, indeed. Taking ownership of the Church, her affairs, her processes and systems, and her declarations is synodality.
Canonically, since 1965, synods are synods of bishops. But historically, synods were not synods of the ordained, nor did they refer only to the official gatherings of bishops to exercise their collegiality, cum Petro et sub Petro. On his part, Pope Francis moved heaven and earth to revive the original concept of synodality to include the non-ordained in the decision-making and decision-taking of the Church.
When our Jesuit pontiff made it clear that he would not issue an apostolic exhortation, it was unprecedented and ground-breaking because, in the past, after a synod of bishops, the Pope issued a post-synodal exhortation.
The Final Document is the collation of the voices of the people who were consulted. “If, at the end, the Holy Father comes up with a post-synodal exhortation,” explained Fr. Devadass, “it is like saying: Okay, you have said all these things; now let me have my final say. [Then] it goes against the very nature of being synodal.”
Now we know that the Holy Father recognizes the voice of the people and affirms it. The Pope hears the Spirit of God speak through the people of God, a papal gesture that is meaningful in Church reforms and moving forward.
A few weeks after the Synod of Bishops in October 2024, Francis published a pontifical note, saying that the Final Document “represents a form of exercising the authentic teaching of the Bishop of Rome.”
IMPLEMENTATION OF SYNODALITY
Our synodal “journey,” scribbles Pope Francis in his note, “has allowed the Church to read her own experiences and identify steps to live communion, realize participation, and promote the mission entrusted to her by Christ.”
He says that “the conclusion of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops does not mark the end of the synodal process” and that the journey that began in the parishes and dioceses in 2021 goes back to them for implementation after the second session in 2024.
Notice that when His Holiness entrusts the Final Document to the local Churches, he urges dynamism, humility, and creativity in its implementation. The Final Document clarifies Pope Francis “is not strictly normative” but rather a call for reflection differently applied in each local context.
Does he specifically ask all bishops to make a progress report that should include “the choices made in their local Church […], the difficulties encountered, and the fruits achieved”? Positive and this progress report will be delivered “during their ad limina visits, sharing both challenges and fruits of their efforts.”
Now, what happens to the central government of the Church after this synod? Works related to synodality must continue, and it appears nobody in the Vatican can rest, including the Holy Father himself. He mandates the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia to accompany the local Churches in the effective implementation of the synodal vision.
Pope Francis uses the word “effective,” which means pastoral actions that produce the intended result of synodality, as he refuses to think of the Final Document being kept in a neat leather-covered folder of thick documents inside the drawer of the bishop’s desk.
The implementation–there goes the final phase of the synod–is the most challenging phase of synodality and, for me, the test of Church leadership.
José Mario Bautista Maximiano is the lead convenor of the Love Our Pope Movement (LOPM) and author of Church Reforms 3: The Synodal Legacy of Pope Francis (Claretian, 2025). Church Reforms 1 and Church Reforms 2 are available on Lazada and Shopee. Email: jomaximiano@gmail.com
