POPE Francis called on synod delegates to take action and respond to the cries of the world and the “many wounds that afflict humanity,” as he closed the final session of the Synod on Synodality.
“We cannot afford to sit back…We cannot stay sitting in our blindness,” the Pope said in his homily during the closing Mass on Sunday, Oct. 27, at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“A sedentary Church that inadvertently withdraws from life and confines itself to the margins of reality, is a Church that risks remaining blind and becoming comfortable with its own unease.”
The Mass marked the conclusion of the synod after 355 delegates approved a 45-page final report calling for the increased participation of laypeople in decision-making.
The pontiff will not issue an apostolic exhortation and instead decided to ratify the synod’s final document, saying that what they have approved was “sufficient.”
“There are already highly concrete indications in the Document that can be a guide for the mission of the Churches, in their specific continents and contexts,” he said during his remarks at the end of the monthlong gathering of Catholic leaders.
Ten synod study groups are set to submit reports, which will outline more proposals on contentious issues, to the pontiff in June 2025.
At the closing Mass, Francis reminded synod members that the Church is “missionary,” which meant that it should reach out to the marginalized and give a “pastoral response to the many problems of our world.”
“We do not need a sedentary and defeatist Church, but a Church that hears the cry of the world…A Church that gets its hands dirty in serving,” he said.
He stressed that a synodal Church serves people in charity and that the synodal journey carries the “joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world.”
“Not a seated Church, but a Church on her feet. Not a silent Church, but a Church that embraces the cry of humanity,” Francis said.
“Not a blind Church, but a Church, enlightened by Christ, that brings the light of the Gospel to others. Not a static Church, but a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world,” he added.
The second and final assembly of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops began on Oct. 2.
Leading the Filipino delegation was Cardinal-designate and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
He was joined by Pasig Bishop and CBCP Vice President Mylo Hubert Vergara, Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula, and theologian Estela Padilla.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, also attended the synod. Reya Vincent P. Misa
