Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has decided that some of the most controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will be examined by study groups that will work beyond the synod’s final assembly in October.
The possible revision of guidelines for the training of priests and deacons, “the role of women in the church and their participation in decision-making/taking processes and community leadership,” a possible revision of the way bishops are chosen and a revision of norms for the relationship between bishops and the religious orders working in their dioceses are all study topics.
Pope Francis asked the groups, coordinated by different offices of the Roman Curia, to make a preliminary report to the synod’s second assembly in October and have a final report by June 2025.
In a letter to Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, released March 14, Pope Francis said that with the 10 study groups working on the issues, members of the assembly in October will be able “to focus more easily on the general theme that I assigned to it at the time, and which can now be summarized in the question: ‘How to be a synodal Church in mission?’”
