Pope Francis reiterated his concerns about the Synod of Bishops, emphasizing that it is not a “parliament” while highlighting that the protagonist is the Holy Spirit.

This was indicated by the Holy Father when he received participants in the 70th General Assembly of the Union of Major Superiors of Italy (USMI) on Thursday, April 13th and 14th, under the theme: “On the synodal path, women witnesses of the Risen Lord.”

In his speech, Pope Francis noted that “sometimes I get a little scared when we talk about synodal spirit and suddenly one thinks, ‘Now we must change this, this, and this,’ and we close ourselves off in another way. No, the path in synodal spirit is to listen, pray and walk. Then the Lord will tell us what we must do.” “I have seen in some proposals: ‘Now we must make this decision, this, this, and this.’ No, this is not the synodal path. This is a ‘parliament.’ Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit makes the synodal path: He is the head of the synodal path, He is the protagonist,” emphasized the Pontiff.

The Synod of Bishops, which will have the theme “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission,” will be held in October 2023 and October 2024 in the Vatican.

“It is not a political meeting” 

In August 2022, the journal La Civiltà Cattolica published the content of Pope Francis’ dialogue with the Jesuits of Canada during his visit to that country.

In that dialogue, the Holy Father emphasized: “It seems fundamental to me to reiterate, as I often do, that the Synod is not a political meeting or a commission for parliamentary decisions.”

He also highlighted that the Synod “is the expression of the Church, where the protagonist is the Holy Spirit. If there is no Holy Spirit, there is no Synod. There may be a democracy, parliament, debate, but there is no ‘Synod.'” Likewise, in 2015, during the Synod on the Family, the Holy Father explained that “the Synod is not a congress or a parliament, it is not a parliament or a senate where we agree,” but “an ecclesial expression, that is, the Church walking together to read reality with the eyes of faith and with the heart of God.”