Faithful in prayer in front of the Gemelli Polyclinic where the Pope has been hospitalized for a month (ANSA)
The synodal path of the Church continues which will culminate, in three years, not with a new Synod but with an ecclesial assembly.
From the Gemelli Polyclinic, in which he has been hospitalized for a month to treat the bilgical pneumonia that hit him, Pope Francis He decided to launch a calendar of appointments for all local churches until 2028.
“On 11 March the Holy Father,” wrote the Secretary General of the Synod in a letter to all the bishops, the Cardinal Mario Grech“Has definitively approved the start of a path of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase by the General Secretariat of the Synod. This path interpesss the diocese and heparies, episcopal conferences and hierarchical structures of the Oriental Catholic churches, as well as their continental groupings, which will take care to also involve institutions of consecrated life, society of apostolic life, secular associations, ecclesial movements and new communities present in their territories. Finally, it will find outlet in the celebration of an ecclesial assembly in the Vatican in October 2028 “.
Grech in the same letter therefore indicates a path with a time schedule, approved by the Pope, which sees various stages of in -depth analysis in local churches for the next three years, up to the ecclesial assembly of 2028.
“It is of fundamental importance – explains the Cardinal – ensure that the implementation phase is an opportunity to involve people who have given their contribution again and return the fruits of listening to all the churches and discernment of the shepherds in the synodal assembly: Thus the dialogue already started in the listening phase will continue. This process will also offer the dioceses who have hitherto invested less on the synodal path an opportunity to recover the steps not yet taken and to form the synod teams in turn “.
The path will also constitute Grech in his letter, “an opportunity to evaluate together the choices made at the local level and recognize the progress made in terms of synodality. Thanks to this path, the Holy Father will be able to listen and confirm the guidelines deemed valid for the whole Church. Finally, this process constitutes the frame within which to sit the many and different initiatives for the implementation of the guidelines of the Synod, in particular the results of the work of the study groups and the contributions of the Canonistic Commission “.
The calendar indicated by the Pope provides for several stages: in May, the publication of the Support document for the implementation phase with the indications for its performance; from June until December 2026, the implementation courses in local churches; From 24 to 26 October this year theThe Jubilee of the Synod teams and participation bodies. “This is an important appointment,” writes Grech in the letter, “to give recognition to the value of these organisms and the people who provide service within them, thus enrolling the commitment to the construction of an increasingly synodal church on the horizon of hope that we do not disappoint that we celebrate in the Jubilee”.
After the implementation courses, in First semester of 2027 There will be evaluation assemblies in the diocese and heparies; In the second half of the same year, the assessment assemblies in national and international episcopal conferences, in the Eastern hierarchical structures and in other groups of churches. In the first semester 2028 space for continental assessment assemblies to arrive, in June, to publication ofInstrumentum Laboris For the works of the Ecclesial Assembly of October which will take place in the Vatican.
Meanwhile, the path of the ten working groups on special issues that should refer to the Pope by June continues. Among these is the question of the role of women, a theme that still divides the Church.
In addition to indicating the next stages of the Synod, the Pope has appointed auxiliary bishop of Hung Hoá (Vietnam) Don Paul Nguyen Quang Dinh and two apostolic nunci: in Burkina Faso Monsignor Giancarlo dellaGiovanna and in Chile Monsignor Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal.
As for the Pope’s health situation, the Friday evening bulletin of the Vatican press room reported “stationary situation” stressing that Bergoglio “continues drug therapy. This morning he carried out motor physiotherapy, while respiratory physiotherapy is expected in the afternoon. The alternation between non -invasive mechanical ventilation at night and the oxygenation with high flows during the day continues.
