Originally published at The Catholic Thing
The unending process that is the Synod on Synodality has taken a new and unexpected turn. The current “Implementation Phase” of the three-year synodal path, following the conclusion of last Fall’s Synodal Assembly in Rome, has now become the preparatory phase for something no one has ever heard of in the Catholic Church, namely an “Ecclesial Assembly.”
In a March 15 letter to the bishops of the world, the General Secretariat of the Synod announced that it will now “start a process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase” of the conclusions of the Synodal Assembly’s Final Document by the dioceses of the world. “It will ultimately culminate in the celebration of an ecclesial assembly in the Vatican in October 2028. For now, therefore, a new Synod will not be convened; instead, the focus will be on consolidating the path taken so far.”
So, the synodal path now leads, ironically, to the canceling of the next synodal assembly, which will be replaced by a new and improved type of assembly that will stand in judgment over the whole synodal process: “the celebration of the ecclesial assembly in October 2028 will be structured in such a way as to offer
