The final document of the Synod on Synodality, released on Saturday 26 October after a two-year synodal process, includes eight paragraphs that were approved unanimously, unlike the rest, which received at least one vote against from a synod father.
This process concludes with a series of proposals that, among other things, could profoundly transform the way in which the faithful, the hierarchy and the mission of the Church relate to each other in the contemporary world.
Since the document was only published by the Vatican in Italian and English, the ACI Prensa team translated the paragraphs quoted below, which were approved by the 355 members who participated in the final vote, that is, without any votes against.
Paragraph 1
“Every new step in the life of the Church is a return to the source, a renewed experience of the encounter with the Risen One that the disciples lived in the Upper Room on Easter night. Like them, we too, participating in this Synodal Assembly, have felt enveloped by His mercy and touched by His beauty. Living the conversation in the Spirit, listening to one another, we have perceived His presence among us: the presence of He who, by giving the Holy Spirit, continues to inspire in His People a unity that is harmony in differences.”
Paragraph 15
“From Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit comes the identity of the People of God. This identity is realized as a call to holiness and a sending on a mission to invite all peoples to accept the gift of salvation (cf. Mt 28:18-19). It is, therefore, from Baptism, in which Christ clothes us with himself (cf. Gal 3:27) and makes us reborn of the Spirit (cf. Jn 3:5-6) as children of God, that the synodal and missionary Church is born. The whole of Christian life has its source and its horizon in the mystery of the Trinity, which arouses in us the dynamism of faith, hope and charity.”
Paragraph 34
“The human creature, as a spiritual being, finds fulfillment in interpersonal relationships. The more he lives these relationships in an authentic way, the more his own personal identity matures. It is not by isolating himself that man values himself, but by establishing himself in a relationship with others and with God. The importance of such relationships then becomes fundamental” (CV 53). A synodal Church is characterized as a space in which relationships can flourish, thanks to the mutual love that constitutes the new commandment that Jesus left to his disciples (cf. Jn 13:34-35). In the midst of increasingly individualistic cultures and societies, the Church, “a people gathered in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” (LG 4), can bear witness to the strength of relationships founded on the Trinity. The differences of vocation, age, sex, profession, condition and social belonging present in every Christian community offer each person that encounter with otherness that is indispensable for personal maturation.”
Paragraph 51
“We must look to the Gospels to trace the map of the conversion that is required of us, learning to make Jesus’ attitude our own. The Gospels “show him constantly listening to the people who approach him on the roads of the Holy Land” (DTC 11). Whether they were men or women, Jews or pagans, doctors of the law or publicans, the righteous or the sinners, beggars, the blind, lepers or the sick, Jesus did not send anyone away without stopping to listen and entering into dialogue. He revealed the face of the Father by approaching each person where his or her story and freedom are found. From listening to the needs and faith of the people he met, words and gestures arose that renewed their lives, opening the way to healed relationships. Jesus is the Messiah who “makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mk 7:37). He asks us, His disciples, to behave in the same way and grants us, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the ability to do so, moulding our hearts to His: only “the heart makes any authentic bond possible, because a relationship that is not built with the heart is incapable of overcoming the fragmentation of individualism” (DN 17). When we listen to our brothers and sisters, we participate in the attitude with which God, in Jesus Christ, approaches each one of us.”
Paragraph 58
“Each baptized person responds to the needs of the mission in the contexts in which he or she lives and works, starting from his or her own inclinations and capacities, thus manifesting the freedom of the Spirit in bestowing his or her gifts. It is thanks to this dynamism in the Spirit that the People of God, by listening to the reality in which they live, can discover new areas of commitment and new ways of fulfilling their mission. Christians who, in various ways – in the family and in other states of life, in the workplace and in the professions, in civic or political, social or ecological commitment, in the development of a culture inspired by the Gospel, as well as in the evangelization of the culture of the digital environment – walk the paths of the world and proclaim the Gospel in their living environments, are sustained by the gifts of the Spirit.”
Paragraph 140
“On Easter night, Christ gives his disciples the messianic gift of his peace and makes them sharers in his mission. His peace is the fullness of being, harmony with God, with brothers and sisters, and with creation; the mission is to announce the Kingdom of God, offering to each person, without exception, the mercy and love of the Father. The delicate gesture that accompanies the words of the Risen One recalls what God did in the beginning. Now, in the Upper Room, with the breath of the Spirit, the new creation begins: a people of missionary disciples is born.”
Paragraph 144
“The Church already has many places and resources for the formation of missionary disciples: families, small communities, parishes, ecclesial groups, seminaries, religious communities, academic institutions, as well as places of service and work with marginalized people, missionary experiences and volunteering. In all these settings, the community expresses its capacity to educate in discipleship and to accompany in witness, in an encounter that often brings together people of different generations. Popular piety is also a precious treasure of the Church, which instructs the entire People of God on their journey. In the Church, no one is merely a recipient of formation: all are active subjects and have something to offer to others.”
Paragraph 152
“The account of the miraculous catch of fish ends with a banquet. The Risen One has asked the disciples to obey His word, to cast their nets and bring them to shore; however, it is He who prepares the table and invites everyone to eat. There are loaves and fish for everyone, as when He multiplied them for the hungry crowd. Above all, there is wonder and enchantment in His presence, so clear and resplendent that it requires no questions. By eating with His own, after they had abandoned and denied Him, the Risen One reopens the space of communion and forever imprints on the disciples the mark of a mercy that opens up to the future. For this reason, the witnesses of Easter will identify themselves thus: “we who ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead” (Acts 10:41).”
(This news is adapted from ACI Prensa)