‘An endless party,’ not an ‘aged marriage’: Pope approves synod’s final document, will not issue apostolic exhortation

October 28, 2024

In his final greeting to participants in the final session of the synod on synodality on October 26, Pope Francis approved the synod’s 53-page final document, the culmination of the three-year synodal process, and said he would not issue a post-synodal apostolic exhortation, as customary after most assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.

“Once the approval of the members has been obtained, the Final Document of the Assembly is presented to the Roman Pontiff, who decides on its publication,” states the apostolic constitution Episcopalis Communio (Art. 18). “If it is expressly approved by the Roman Pontiff, the Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter.”

The final document—still officially available only in Italian, with translations “available in coming days”—contains 155 paragraphs, all approved by large majorities of synod participants. Paragraph 60, which states that “the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open,” garnered the largest number of “no” votes, but was approved by a 258-97 margin.

The Pope said:

In light of what has emerged from the synodal journey, there are and there will be decisions to be made. In our time marked by wars, we must be witnesses of peace, even by learning how to live out our differences in conviviality. For this reason, I do not intend to publish an Apostolic Exhortation, what we have approved is sufficient.

There are already highly concrete indications in the Document that can be a guide for the mission of the Churches, in their specific continents and contexts. This is why I am making it immediately available to everyone, it is the reason I said that it should be published. In this way, I wish to recognize the value of the synodal journey accomplished, which by means of this Document I hand over to the holy faithful people of God.

Two verses written by Venerable Madeleine Delbrêl, the Pope explained, “can become the background music for welcoming the Final Document”:

For I think that you may have had enough of people who, always, speak of serving you with the look of a leader, of encountering you with the air of a professor, of approaching you with sporting regulations, of loving you as one loves in an aged marriage. ...

Let us live our life, not as a game of chess where everything is calculated, not as a game where everything is difficult, not as a theorem that breaks our minds, but like an endless party where your meeting is renewed, like a ball, like a dance, in the arms of your grace, in the music that fills the universe with love.

Study groups

In February, Pope Francis created ten study groups to explore some of the issues raised during the October 2023 synod session; the study groups are expected to finish their work by June 2025. The Pontiff referred to the ten study groups in his October 26 address:

On certain aspects of the life of the Church pointed out in the Document, as well as on the themes entrusted to the ten “Study Groups,” who work with freedom, to offer me proposals, more time is needed in order to arrive at decisions that involve the whole Church. I will continue to listen to the Bishops and the Churches entrusted to them.

This is not the classic way of postponing decisions indefinitely. It is the way that corresponds to the synodal style with which even the Petrine ministry is to be exercised: by listening, convening, discerning, deciding and evaluating. On this path we need pauses, silences and prayer. It is a style that we are still learning together, little by little. The Holy Spirit calls and supports us in this learning, which we need to understand as a process of conversion. The General Secretariat of the Synod and all the Dicasteries of the Curia will help me in this task.

Describing the final document as “a gift to all the faithful people of God,” though “it is obvious that not everyone will set out to read it,” the Pope told synod participants that “it will largely fall to you, together with many others, to make what it contains accessible in the local Churches. The text, without the witness of lived experience, would lose much of its value.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, what we have experienced is a gift that we cannot keep to ourselves,” the Pope continued. “The impetus that comes from this experience, of which the Document is a reflection, gives us the courage to witness that it is possible to walk together in diversity, without condemning each other.”

He added:

We come from all parts of the world, some marked by violence, poverty, indifference. Together, with the hope that does not disappoint, united in the love of God in our hearts, we should not only dream of peace but also commit ourselves with all our strength so that, perhaps without talking so much about synodality, peace will be realized through the processes of listening, dialogue and reconciliation.

To set out on mission, the synodal Church now needs its shared words to be accompanied by actions. This is our journey. All this is the gift of the Holy Spirit: it is he who makes harmony because it is he who is harmony. Saint Basil has a very beautiful theology on this, if you can read his treatise on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is harmony. Brothers and sisters, may harmony continue even as we leave this hall, and may the Breath of the Risen One help us to share the gifts that we have received.

Synod coverage

• Synod retreat, day 1: ‘Stripping ourselves before the other and before God’ (CWN, 10/1)
• Synod retreat touches on homosexuality, ‘new ministries’; culminates in penitential vigil (CWN, 10/2)
• Opening Synod session, Pope stresses listening (CWN, 10/2)
• Synod, October 2: Pope defends inclusion of non-bishops; Cardinal Fernández: ‘no’ to women deacons (CWN, 10/3)
• Synod, October 3: Working groups discuss ‘Foundations’; ‘nothing new,’ says Cardinal Hollerich (CWN, 10/4)
• Cardinal Grech: Every Catholic is invited to weigh in on synod study groups’ deliberations (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod study group calls for ‘paradigm shift’ on controversial moral issues (CWN, 10/4)
• African bishops preparing document on polygamy (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod, October 4: leading African cardinal criticized for inadequate consultation in rejecting same-sex blessings (CWN, 10/5)
• Synod, October 5: work on ‘Foundations’ concludes; Lebanese, Haitian prelates recount suffering (CWN, 10/7)
• No synod meetings on Sunday, October 6
• Synod, October 7: Cardinal Hollerich calls for suggestions to make Church less ‘pyramidal’; women’s ministry discussion resurfaces (CWN, 10/8)
• Jesuits hold outsized influence at Synod on Synodality (CWN, 10/8)
• Synod, October 8: final document commission members chosen; leading Latin American prelate raises prospect of married priests (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod names commission to prepare final document (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod, October 9: Cardinal Fernández invites synod participants to weigh in on forthcoming document on women and ministry (CWN, 10//10)
• Synod, October 10: New synod guidelines announced, but not made public, as discussion of transparency begins (CWN, 10/11)
• Synod, October 11: opacity shrouds discussion of transparency, accountability in the Church (CWN, 10/14)
• Papal address: Christian unity is an unexpected gift, a journey, harmony, and for the sake of mission (CWN, 10/14)
• Synod, October 12: participants pray for migrants on synod’s least transparent day (CWN, 10/15)
• No synod meetings on Sunday, October 13
• Cardinal-designate Radcliffe links African bishops’ opposition to homosexuality to pressure from evangelicals, Moscow, and Muslims (CWN, 10/15)
• Synod, October 14: abuse of nuns, need for women in seminary formation discussed (CWN, 10/15)
• How ‘Special Interest Advocacy’ works at the Synod on Synodality (CWN, 10/15)
• Cardinal Hollerich introduces final ‘module’ of Synod working document (CWN, 10/15)
• Synod, October 15: Cardinal Hollerich calls for diffusion of synod’s ‘dynamism’; Cardinal Steiner calls for female diaconate (CWN, 10/16)
• Synod, October 16: pushback against devolution of doctrinal authority to episcopal conferences? (CWN, 10/17)
• Synod, October 17: Chinese bishop professes adherence to ‘sinicization of Catholicism’ (CWN, 10/18)
• Synod, October 18: some delegates angered by Cardinal Fernández’s absence from dialogue (CWN, 10/21)
• Synod, October 19: Cardinal Grech calls for reevaluation of seminaries, theology programs (CWN, 10/22)
• Synod not in session on October 20
• Father Radcliffe: discuss Synod document without fear (CWN, 10/21)
• Synod, October 21: Cardinal Fernández calls for more women in leadership roles, but not in diaconate (CWN, 10/22)
• Cardinal-designate Radcliffe denies making published remarks about African bishops and homosexuality, Cardinal Ambongo says (CWN, 10/23)
• Synod, October 23: over 1,000 amendments to synod’s final document proposed (CWN, 10/24)
• Pope to young people at the Synod: ‘Keep moving forward’ (CWN, 10/24)
• Cardinal-designate Radcliffe objects... (Catholic Culture Commentary, 10/24)
• US archbishop, at synod: Church needs women in decision-making (CWN, 10/25)
• Pope concludes synod with call for a missionary Church (CWN, 10/28)

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