Pope approves convocation of post-synodal Ecclesial Assembly in 2028

By Isabella Piro

Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod’s General Secretariat, has announced the convocation of a special post-synodal Ecclesial Assembly to be held in the Vatican in October 2028 as the culmination of a three-year  process accompanying  the implementation of the outcomes of the Synod.

In a letter addressed to all Bishops and Eparchs, along with the Patriarchs and Major Archbishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Cardinal Grech explained that the assembly will not be a new Synod.

The process refers to the implementation phase of the three-year Synod  on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” which conluded in October 2024.

As the Pope immediately clarified at its conclusion, the Final Document of the 16th General Assembly “is part of the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter” and, as such, must be received. This, explained Cardinal Grech, means that “local Churches and groups of Churches” must commit to “implementing” the document’s guidelines through processes of “discernment and decision-making”.

Making exchanges within the Church concrete

Cardinal Grech specified that the implementation phase should not be seen as “a simple application of directives from above” but rather as “a reception process” of the Final Document in a manner “appropriate to local cultures and community needs.” The goal remains “to make exchanges and dialogue between Churches and within the Church concrete.”

Involving priests, deacons, consecrated persons, and laypeople

A crucial aspect of this implementation process is the renewed involvement of all those who contributed to the Synod so that “listening to all the Churches” and the discernment of their pastors can bear fruit.

Fundamental to this effort will be “synodal teams composed of priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and laypeople, accompanied by their bishop.” The Secretary General therefore recommends that these teams be “valued” and, if necessary, “renewed, reactivated, and appropriately integrated.”

Study groups and the Canon Law Commission

According to the Secretary General, the entire process forms “the framework” in which the “results of the Study Groups’ work and the contributions of the the Canonical Commission of the Synod” will be placed.

The ten Study Groups were established by Pope Francis in March 2024 to examine issues that emerged during the first session of the 16th Synodal Assembly in 2023.

Instead, the  Canonical Commission shic has been   active since 2023 , as indicated in the Instrumentum Laboris of the Assembly’s second session  was established “in agreement with the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, to serve  the Synod.”

The Jubilee of Synodal Teams

Cardinal Grech outlined the stages of the accompaniment process for the Synod’s implementation phase: the announcement of the process which will be followed  in May, by the publication of a specific  document detailing its execution and  the celebration a of  “Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies”  scheduled for October 24-26.

The Secretary General emphasized that this is “an important event” that places “the commitment to an increasingly synodal Church within the horizon of the hope that does not disappoint,” the central theme of the ongoing Holy Year.

A three-year process

Between the first and second semesters of 2027, evaluation Assemblies will take place within dioceses, eparchies, national and international Episcopal Conferences, Eastern hierarchical structures, and other Church groups. The first and second semesters of 2028 will be dedicated to continental evaluation Assemblies and the publication of the Instrumentum laboris for the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028.

A call to pray for the Pope

Cardinal Grech’s letter concludes with an invitation to pray for Pope Francis’ health, as he has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic since February 14.