¹ Francis, ‘Ceremony Commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops’, 17 October 2015. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html.

² Ibid. A month later, speaking to the Convention of the Italian Church in Florence, he said that ‘our times require a deeply merciful Catholicism that is unafraid of change’. McElwee, Joshua J., ‘Catholicism Can and Must Change, Francis Forcefully Tells Italian Church Gathering’. https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/catholicism-can-and-must-change-francis-forcefully-tells-italian-church-gathering.Google Scholar Since 2013 Francis has organised four synods: the first two in 2014 and 2015 were on the family, the third in 2018 focussed on youth, and the most recent in 2019 on the challenges facing the Amazon region. He has also chosen ‘synodality’ as the theme for the next world meeting of bishops in 2022.

³ See the comments by Jessica Murdoch and Thomas Petri, O.P. on synodality (25 October 2018) at https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/what-is-synodality-experts-explain-60147.

⁴ International Theological Commission, ‘Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church’, 1 (henceforward abbreviated to SLMC). In the following I am summarising, paraphrasing, and quoting specific points and orientations of the ITC document.

⁵ However, the document notes that: ‘The formula according to which ex cathedra definitions of the Pope are irreformable “in themselves and not in virtue of the consensus of the Church”[36] does not make the consensus Ecclesiae superfluous… This is borne out by consultation carried out through the Bishops among the whole People of God…in view of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception … [and] … the dogma of the Assumption of Mary’ (SLMC, 37).

⁶ Here and elsewhere the document refers to an earlier work of the International Theological Commission, namely, Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church (2014). See: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fidei_en.html.

⁷ VI, Blessed Paul, Motu proprio Apostlica sollicitudo, 15 September 1965Google Scholar: AAS 57 (1965), p. 776.

⁸ For Francis, clericalism is another ‘mistaken way of living out the ecclesiology proposed by Vatican II… Clericalism forgets that the visibility and sacramentality of the Church belong to all the People of God (cf. Lumen Gentium, nn. 9-14), not only to the few chosen and enlightened’. Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to His Eminence Cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet, PSS, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, 19th March 2016. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160319_pont-comm-america-latina.html.

⁹ These paragraphs refer to ‘two structures which have a synodal character: the parish pastoral council and the financial council’ and suggests the former should be obligatory.

¹⁰ Francis does not believe in a synodality ‘from above’ disconnected from the base, that is, without a synodality ‘from below’. Pope Francis, ‘Address to the Italian Bishops’ Conference’, 20 May 2019. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/de/speeches/2019/may/documents/papa-francesco_20190520_cei.html.

¹¹ ‘The Spirit's distinct gifts are complementary not conflictual. They promote communion not discord… Nor does the fundamental equality of each member of the Church imply that every member has identical gifts’. Renken, John A., ‘Synodality: A Constitutive Element of the Church. Reflections on Pope Francis and Synodality’, Studio Canonica 52 (2018), p. 29.Google Scholar

¹² The difference between a Plenary Council and a Synod is that the latter does not have legislative power. ‘A Plenary Council unites a large geographical region and brings together a Conference of Bishops (and advisors) to reflect on local issues and propose legislation for the future. The decrees of a Plenary Council, once approved by the Vatican, are implemented for the Church in that region’. See Roper, Elissa, ‘Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation’, The Australasian Catholic Record 95 (2018), p. 413,Google Scholar n. 2.

¹³ Roper, ‘Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation’, p. 412.

¹⁴ Francis, ‘Ceremony Commemorating the 50^th Anniversary of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops’, p.17 October 2015. See note 1.

¹⁵ Ibid. See also Rush, Ormond, ‘Inverting the Pyramid: The Sensus Fidelium in a Synodal Church’, Theological Studies 78 (2017), pp. 299-325,CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 307.

¹⁶ “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. . .” A Pastoral Response from Bishop Donald J. Hying to the faithful of the Diocese of Gary 8 September 2017. See ‘http://www.dcgary.org/pdf/pastoral-english-17.pdf, 23.

¹⁷ See Healy, Nicholas, ‘New Theological Practices for the Contemporary Catholic Church,’ in Hellemans, Staf & Jonkers, Peter eds., Envisioning Futures for the Catholic Church. Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series VIII, Christian Philosophical Studies 23 (Washington DC: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2018), pp. 201-27.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Congar, Yves, Vraie et fausse réforme dans l’Église (Paris: Cerf, 1951), p. 277.Google Scholar

¹⁹ At the conclusion of the 2014 synod he said: ‘I have seen and I have heard – with joy and appreciation – speeches and interventions full of faith, of pastoral and doctrinal zeal, of wisdom, of frankness and of courage: and of parrhesia’. Address of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Conclusion of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops’. (8 October 2014). http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/october/documents/papa francesco_20141018_conclusione-sinodo-dei-vescovi.html.

²⁰ Rush, Ormond, ‘A Synodal Church. On Being a Hermeneutical Community’ in Godzieba, Anthony and Hinze, Bradford, eds., Beyond Dogmatism and Innocence. Hermeneutics, Critique and Catholic Theology (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2017), p. 169.Google Scholar

²¹ McElwee, Joshua J., ‘Cardinal Tagle: Church Should Not Look to “Idealized Past” with Nostalgia’, National Catholic Reporter, 22 May 2015, ttps://www.ncronline.org/news/world/cardinal-tagle-church-should-not-look-idealized-past-nostalgia.Google Scholar

²² ‘Naturally women – who immediately introduce otherness into the clerical system and bring a desire for collaboration in reciprocity with men for greater pastoral fecundity, and also women religious, because of their experience of fraternal life in community, of community discernment and of an obedience experienced as “listening together” to the Spirit – have a fundamental role to play in promoting, together with many lay people who want to belong to this synodal Church, new ecclesial practices whose new expressions are “listening”, “serving all”, humility and conversion, participation and co-responsibility’. Becquart, Nathalie, ‘The role of women in repairing the Church’ L'Osservatore Romano (27 July 2019). http://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/role-women-repairing-church. Accessed 11 March 2020.Google Scholar

²³ International Theological Commission, ‘Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church’ (2014), n. 73. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fidei_en.html.

²⁴ See Massingale, Brian N., ‘Beyond “Who Am I to Judge?” The Sensus Fidelium, LGBT Experience, and Truth-Telling in the Church’, in Learning from All the Faithful. A Contemporary Theology of the Sensus Fidei, eds. Hinze, Bradford E. and Phan, Peter C. (Pickwick/Wipf and Stock: Oregon, 2016)Google Scholar, Ch. 12 – ebook version, npg.

²⁵ The phrase is from Archbishop Emeritus Rembert G. Weakland, OSB, in his A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church. Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop (Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans, 2009), p. 18.Google Scholar

²⁶ In the words of Pope John Paul II: ‘Within a sound ecclesiology of communion, a commitment to creating better structures of participation, consultation and shared responsibility should not be misunderstood as a concession to a secular “democratic” model of governance, but as an intrinsic requirement of the exercise of episcopal authority and a necessary means of strengthening that authority’. Address of John Paul II to the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (U.S.A.) on their “Ad Limina” Visit

Saturday, 11 September 2004. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2004/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040911_ad-limina-usa.html.

²⁷ Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to His Eminence Cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet, PSS, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, 19th March 2016. See note 8.

²⁸ Cristina L. H. Traina, ‘Whose Sensus? Which Fidelium? in Hinze and Phan, eds., Learning from All the Faithful. A Contemporary Theology of the Sensus Fidei, Ch. 11, ebook version, npg.

²⁹ Massimo Faggioli, ‘Polarization in the Church and the Crisis of the Catholic Mind’, La Croix International (27 November 2017). https://international.la-croix.com/news/polarization-in-the-church-and-the-crisis-of-the-catholic-mind/6444. Elsewhere Faggioli suggests that the document could have acknowledged the sense of frustration at the paucity of national or local synodal processes over the last forty years and more. See Massimo Faggioli, ‘The Uncertain Future of Synodality. Polarization and Ecclesial Paralysis’, La Croix International (21 August 2019). https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-uncertain-future-of-synodality/7790.

³⁰ Op. cit. See note 14.

³¹ Evangelii Gaudium, 236. See also ‘Conclusion of the Synod of Bishops. Address of His Holiness Pope Francis’, 24 October 2015. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151024_sinodo-conclusione-lavori.html.

³² Francis, Pope, ‘An das pilgernde Volk Gottes in Deutschland’ (29 June 2019), n. 11. https://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/diverse_downloads/presse_2019/2019-108a-Brief-Papst-Franziskus-an-das-pilgernde-Volk-Gottes-in-Deutschland-29.06.2019.pdf.Google Scholar

³³ https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/exclusive-chicagos-new-archbishop-talks-about-stepping-unknown.

³⁴ It is a ‘back and forth process of questioning, from whole to part and back again, from general to particular and back again to general knowledge’. Rush, ‘A Synodal Church. On Being a Hermeneutical Community’, pp.164-65.

³⁵ Francis, Pope, ‘General Audience’ (20 January 2014) http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140122_udienza-generale.html. Accessed 11 May 2020.Google Scholar

³⁶ Evangelii Gaudium, n. 246.

³⁷ https://iarccum.org/doc/?d=721. Accessed 11 May 2020. We will use the abbreviation WTW to refer to the document.

³⁸ ‘The stronger authority of Anglican regional instruments of communion, and their greater potential for a pastoral response to local cultures and circumstance, suggests a way in which the teaching role of Roman Catholic episcopal conferences could be strengthened’. (WTW, 120).

³⁹ Fitzgibbon, Eamonn, ‘Together on the Way – Pope Francis and Synodality’, The Furrow 68 (2017), p. 537.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Evangelii Gaudium, n. 223. In fact, in Evangelii Gaudium, nn.222-237 Francis lists four principles that should guide the synodal process: ‘Time is greater than space’; ‘Unity prevails over conflict’; ‘Realities are more important than ideas’; and ‘The whole is greater than the part’.

⁴¹ The themes were: 1. Community and Sense of Belonging. 2. Faith Formation. 3. Pastoral Care of the Family. 4. New Models of Leadership. 5. Liturgy and Life. 6. Young People. See http://www.synod2016.com/

⁴² Brendan Leahy, Bishop of Limerick, ‘Moving Forward Together in Hope’. Limerick Diocesan Pastoral Plan 2016-2026, 4. http://www.synod2016.com/sy/assets/File/2016/LimerickDiocesePastoralPlan2016.pdf

⁴³ ‘Speaking Notes of Bishop Dermot Farrell for Conference with Laity and Priests in the Diocese of Ossory’, 24 November 2018. https://ossory.ie/2018/11/conference-of-laity-and-priests-of-the-diocese-of-ossory-exploring-our-parishes-today/. The clerical sexual abuse crisis in Ireland is the most obvious example of this.

⁴⁴ See, for example, his recent letter to the German bishops: ‘An das pilgernde Volk Gottes in Deutschland’ 29 June 2019), n. 5, and his 2018 Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate, nn. 57-59. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html#CONTEMPORARY_PELAGIANISM.

⁴⁵ : ‘An das pilgernde Volk Gottes in Deutschland’, n. 5 and n. 9.

⁴⁶ In a similar vein, Joseph Komonchak comments: ‘Perhaps the greatest criticism that one can justly bring against the Second Vatican Council is that it paid so little attention to the structural and institutional implications of its ecclesiology of communion’. Komonchak, Joseph A., ‘Theological Perspectives on the Exercise of Synodality’, in Baldisseri, Lorenzo, ed., A cinquant'anni dall’ Apostolica sollicitudo Il Sinodo dei Vescovi al servizio di una Chiesa sinodale (Rome: Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 2016), p. 355.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ O'Hanlon, Gerry SJ, The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis. A Synodal Catholic Church in Ireland? (Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2018), pp. 122, 123.Google Scholar Although in his Apostolic Constitution, Episcopalis Communio (15 September 2018) on the Synod of Bishops, Francis acknowledged the Synod ‘might also enjoy deliberative power’ (n. 3). He later cites Pope John Paul II's Post Synodal Exhortation, Pastores Gregis (16 October 2003): ‘the fact that the Synod ordinarily has only a consultative role does not diminish its importance. In the Church the purpose of any collegial body, whether consultative or deliberative, is always the search for truth or the good of the Church. When it is therefore a question involving the faith itself, the consensus ecclesiae is not determined by the tallying of votes, but is the outcome of the working of the Spirit, the soul of the one Church of Christ’. (n. 8).

⁴⁸ Even at the most recent Pan-Amazon synod, while there were religious sisters and indigenous laity participating, not one had voting rights. Women continue to be excluded from decision-making processes in the Church. See Curran, Sheila R.S.M. ‘Struggling Together after the Pan-Amazon Synod’ Doctrine & Life 70 (2020), pp. 2-3.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Ibid., p. 159.