The recent annual Assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious received a video message from Pope Leo XIV, in which he said:
All Christians are called to be builders of Christ’s communion, formed in a synodal Church in which everyone cooperates in the same mission according to their own charism and ministry. In a special way, those in religious life are called to become experts in synodality due to the opportunities afforded by community life to practice it, as well as the very way that your congregations are organized.
What, though, is “a synodal Church” in which women religious are “called to become experts in synodality”?
An answer to this question was given by Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, who addressed the Assembly in person:
Synodality is not a programme to be implemented, not a project with a 2028 deadline, not one more meeting. It is about our deep identity as Church, rooted in the mystery of the Trinity. It is not about being another Church but about being the Church in a different way. . .to move from one culture to another: from a culture of clericalism, hierarchicalism and institutional
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