Vatican City, Oct 25, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
There is no single model for what synodality should look like in all countries and cultures, Pope Leo XIV said in a discussion with synod leaders from around the globe, held at the Vatican on Friday.
“We have to be very clear, we’re not looking for a uniform model. And synodality will not come with a template where everybody and every country will say this is how you do it,” the pope said in the Paul VI Hall Oct. 24.
“It is, rather, a conversion to a spirit of being Church, and being missionary, and building up, in that sense, the family of God.”
Leo spoke about synodality in unscripted remarks in English, Spanish, and Italian during the opening session of a meeting for the jubilee of synodal teams and participatory bodies, taking place in Rome Oct. 24-26, part of the Church’s wider 2025 Jubilee of Hope.
Around 2,000 people are attending the synod-focused jubilee, which includes a two-day meeting “aimed at translating the orientations of the [Synod on Synodality’s] Final Document into pastoral and structural choices consistent with the synodal nature of the Church,” according to the Vatican’s synod office.
The pope joined part of the program on Friday evening to listen to representatives from different regions give reports on the implementation of synodality in their parts of the world, and to answer their questions about the synodal process.
Synodality, Leo said, “is to help the Church fulfill its primary role in the world, which is to be missionary, to announce the Gospel.”
He added that synodality “is not a campaign. It’s a way of being and a way of being Church. It’s a way of promoting an attitude, which begins with learning to listen to one another.”
The pope recalled the value of listening, “beginning with listening to the Word of God, listening to one another, listening to the wisdom we find in men and in women, in members of the Church, and those who are searching who might not yet be members of the Church.”
He also addressed resistance to the synodal process, such as worry by some that it is an attempt to weaken the authority of the bishop.
“I would like to invite all of you … to reflect upon what synodality is about and to invite the priests particularly, even more than the bishops, to somehow open their hearts and take part in these processes,” Leo said. “Often the resistance comes out of fear and lack of knowledge.”
He emphasized the need to prioritize formation and preparation at every educational level.
“Sometimes ready answers are given without the proper, necessary preparation to arrive at the conclusion that maybe some of us have already drawn, but others are not ready for or capable to understand,” he said.
“We have to understand that we do not all run at the same speed. And sometimes we have to be patient with one another,” Leo said. “And rather than a few people running ahead and leaving a lot behind, which could cause even a break in an ecclesial experience, we need to look for ways, very concrete ways at times, of understanding what’s happening in each place, where the resistances are or where they come from, and what we can do to encourage more and more the experience of communion in this Church which is synodal.”
Asked if groupings of churches, such as regional bishops’ conferences, will continue to grow in the life of the Church, Leo said, “the brief answer is yes, I do expect that, and I hope that the different groupings of churches can continue to grow as expressions of communion in the Church using the gifts we are all receiving through this exercise if you will, this life, this expression of synodality.”
The pontiff also weighed in on the topic of women and their participation in the Church, though he set aside the most controversial questions, which he said are being examined in a separate study group.
“So leaving aside the most difficult themes,” he said, “there are cultural obstacles, there are opportunities, but there are cultural obstacles. And this has to be recognized, because women could play a key role in the Church, but in some cultures women are considered second-class citizens and in some realities they do not enjoy the same rights as men.”
“In these cases, there is a challenge for the Church, for all of us, because we need to understand how we can promote the respect for the rights of everyone, men and women,” he encouraged.
The Church can promote a culture in which there is co-participation of every member of society, each according to their vocation, Leo continued. “We have to understand how the Church can be a strength to transform cultures according to the values of the Gospel.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
It was taken for granted, because that is what Francis had said somewhere in a conversation that he envisioned Synodal diversity according to cultural exigencies – that Leo XIV would have a similar response.
Diversity, its social acceptance speaks to equality. In Dilexi Te 94 Leo makes a significant judgment on social evil stating that “inequality ‘is the root of social ills’” [see Pakaluk TCT] in contradiction to Leo XIII who says in Inscrutabili Dei consilio [On the Evils of Society] that the root of social ills is the rejection of Christianity by civil authorities.
This frames Synodality in the mores of social egalitarianism. Whereas Catholic Christianity does not perceive all religious viewpoints as equal. Adherence to the commandments Christ adjured to the Apostles at the Ascension requires exclusivity.
Reading Pope Leo’s comments on “synodality,” I had the feeling that I was warching a hamster racing round and round its wheel. Synodality could be this, it could be that, it could work differently in this or that place, there are different understandings of critical issues like the role of women in the Church, but if we just keep trying hard enough, we’ll get there, whatever that place iturns out to be, etc., etc. …
“We have to understand that we do not all run at the same speed. And sometimes we have to be patient with one another,” Leo said. “And rather than a few people running ahead and leaving a lot behind, which could cause even a break in an ecclesial experience, we need to look for ways, very concrete ways at times, of understanding what’s happening in each place, where the resistances are or where they come from, and what we can do to encourage more and more the experience of communion in this Church which is synodal.”
This is WAY too much work to figure out. People are not going to spend all of their time trying to calibrate their understanding of reality with all the possble understandings of reality that exist in various places around the world, in hopes that this may somehow transform the life of the Church in an unprecedented manner that will satisfy everyone. The vision Pope Francis had of communion in the Church as “synodal” is running on fumes. None of this has any relevance to deepening my relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, or coming to a more profound understanding of the Kingdom of God.
Excellent critique Mary E.
More synodality talk. Spare me.
The process of synodality has immense potential for the pilgrim Church. Openness, transparency, dialogue, respect, trust, and justice will be expected to be the core package for pilgrims and seekers, wishing to journey and come face to face with their Maker.
On his first visit to Africa in 1980, St. John Paul II was asked what the Church should look like thereabouts. He said, “be comlepetely African and completely Christian.” Meaning there is no place for polygamy. Later, addressing the whole wide world on such questions, he wrote Veritatis Splendor (1993) regarding moral absolutes and explicitly incorporating the natural law into the Magisterium. A sort of footnote to the synodally requested (1985!) Catechism (1993).
It’s almost as if St. Paul meant something when, after his very diverse results at th Aereopagus, moved on to Corinth to preach nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. In season and out of season, even at the cadaverous “church” in Germanic, etc.
Maybe Pope Leo XIV should simply say what he is saying (like JP II) AND what he is not saying (also like JP II), and just as Truman failed to do about “unconditional surrender.” To be equally leveled is not an option
I was the one that made the point about bishops conferences /collegiality not being homogenous but different in place and time and purpose, even irregular. See first link.
I had also said to Anna in these comboxes that people like Paolo Giosue are doing the card trick thing, listening to find out something and say “That’s what synodality is and always was”. It’s easier than thinking it all out in advance yourself. See second link.
Why is the Pope parroting things from the Anglicans. It does seem like that.
If people going “too far ahead” and others getting “left behind” are “unacceptable”, what makes it “acceptable” that they all stay in the same banding if “time is greater than space”? What makes it “unacceptable”?
Why would all situations for a given synodalism have to be in the same synodalism band at the same time even though it is allowed not to have to be in another synodalism band.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/08/11/the-ghost-of-synods-past-the-extraordinary-synod-of-1969/
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/06/26/synodality-is-the-result-of-a-theological-error-kung-vs-ratzinger-2-0/