Synod study groups release interim reports

The study groups were established by Pope Francis to provide an in-depth reflection on controversial, complex or “emerging” questions raised during the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

The groups were asked to look at questions including the formation of priests, the selection of bishops, women’s leadership in the Church and ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. The late Pope had asked the groups to complete their work by June 2025, but Pope Leo XIV extended the deadlines to the end of the year.

However, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, said some groups are “now nearing completion of their work, while others will continue in the months ahead”.

A study group that corresponds to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said the final report it is drafting “will reserve a special word” for the issue of women’s access to the diaconate.

Materials from the synod and contributions received more recently have been forwarded to the commission Pope Francis had set up in 2020 to continue studying the issue and which he “revived” during the Synod on Synodality.

The group is also examining accounts of women in Church leadership, the nature and exercise of ecclesial power and what it describes as “critical tensions regarding clericalism and male chauvinism”.

The study group on priestly formation, which was focused on ways to ensure future priests are educated in synodality – listening, discernment and shared responsibility with laypeople – said its members concluded that “a complete overhaul” of the Vatican and national guidelines for priestly formation “does not currently seem appropriate” because the guidelines are so recent.

But the group identified “a series of needs” that it said “cannot be ignored”. These included: “the need to deepen the identity of ordained ministry in relational terms”; “joint formation moments involving laypeople, consecrated persons, ordained ministers and seminarians”; greater participation of women and families in formation; and a focus on missionary outreach.

FULL STORY

Synod study groups release ‘interim’ reports as most continue working (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)

Vatican study groups cite women’s diaconate among priorities in new synod reports (National Catholic Reporter)