Next Synod of Bishops in 2022; theme to be decided by Pope

By Robin Gomes

The next ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops has been scheduled for "for autumn 2022", to ensure a "greater involvement" of the whole Church "in the preparation and celebration" of the synod, said a note from the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

Pope Francis decided on the time while presiding over the afternoon session of the first meeting of the 15^th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops on 6 February.  

The topics on the agenda

The working session, which took place on 7 February, suggested to the Pope possible themes to be dealt with at the upcoming synod.  The meeting also reviewed other issues, such as the steps taken after the Synod on Youth in 2018 and the feedback to the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, “Christus vivit”.

The concern for migrants

The Pope was presented with "a trio of possible themes" for the 2022 synod.  The working session noted that there was also "an urgent need to express solidarity with the brothers and sisters involved in the drama of forced migration".

The meeting began with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, announcing that following the nomination of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Pakistani Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan, takes over as a new member of the Ordinary Council.

During the meeting, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, General Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, presented the results of the consultations carried out in 2019 by his office on possible issues for discussion at the next synod.  The consultations involved the Episcopal Conferences, the Synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris, the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the Union of Superiors General.   

Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, also presented the post-synodal activities that the Youth Section is carrying out to help implement the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Christus vivit”.