- NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER - Hannah Brockhaus/CNA - APRIL 26, 2023 -
Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, said the non-bishop participants — among them priests, religious, deacons, and laypeople — ‘are witnesses of the memory of the process, of the itinerary, of the discernment that began two years ago.’
The Vatican announced Wednesday that there will be laypeople participating as voting members in the Synod on Synodality’s October assembly, a break with past custom, which allowed laypeople to participate without the right to vote.
Pope Francis will also approve every member in advance.
The general assembly of the Synod on Synodality will take place in two sessions, in October 2023 and October 2024.
After the vote on a final document for the assembly, the Pope alone decides whether to take any actions based on the recommendations in the final text or whether to adopt it as an official Church document.
The leadership of the synod released information in a FAQ sheet April 26 about who will attend the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October and how they will be chosen.
The biggest change announced Wednesday was the removal of the “auditor” role. In past synods, auditors included priests, religious, and laypeople, who did not have the right to vote in synod deliberations.
Now, these 70 members, who may be priests, consecrated women, deacons, and laypeople, will be able to vote. They will be chosen by the Pope from among a list of 140 people selected by the leadership of this year’s continental synod meetings.
According to the synod leadership, it is requested that “50% of [the selected people] be women and that the presence of young people also be emphasized.”
“In selecting them, account is taken not only of their general culture and prudence but also of their knowledge, both theoretical and practical, as well as their participation in various capacities in the synod process,” the FAQ sheet says.
A second change states that five women religious and five men religious will be elected to represent their institutes of consecrated life rather than 10 religious priests as in the past.
The last modification is that Pope Francis will personally choose the representatives of the Vatican dicasteries who participate in the assembly.
“It’s a change, but it’s not a revolution,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, told journalists during a meeting to explain the changes April 26. “Change is normal in life, in history,” he added.