Synod: Three Days of Work with Continental Bodies – Collegiality Put to the Test

Rome hosted the leaders of continental ecclesial bodies for three days. The synodal process continues under Leo XIV. Abbot Grégoire Masson sheds light on the significance of this work and the conditions for an authentically Catholic synodality.

The Fact

Vatican News reports that the Synod brought together for three days the leaders of continental ecclesial bodies in Rome—CCEE for Europe, CELAM for Latin America, SECAM for Africa, among others. These meetings are part of the synodal process initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 and which Leo XIV has chosen to continue. They aim to articulate the results of the Synod on synodality with the regional structures of the universal Church, in preparation for Leo XIV’s trip to Paris in the fall.

Our Perspective (in the Light of Magisterium)

Synodality, as Leo XIV receives and interprets it, must be read in the light of Lumen Gentium (nn. 22-23): episcopal collegiality is not a parliament of the Church, but an expression of hierarchical communion under the authority of the Successor of Peter. The meeting of continental bodies illustrates Rome’s desire to better articulate the universal and the particular, the center and the peripheries. A necessary vigilance remains: these institutional structures must not dilute the primatial authority of the Roman Pontiff, the irreducible guarantee of Catholic unity (Pastor Aeternus, First Vatican Council, 1870).

For Reflection

Authentic synodality is listening to the Holy Spirit in prayer and obedience, not negotiating an institutional consensus. Let us pray for the bishops gathered in Rome, that they may discern rightly and firmly maintain the course of fidelity to the deposit of faith.