The Way of the Church in the Third Millennium

Abstract

“It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium”. This is what Pope Francis said in his October 17, 2015 speech given on the fiftieth anniversary of Paul VI’s institution of the Synod of Bishops just as the conclusion to the Second Vatican Council was approaching. Considering that it is framed in the context of a Church called to spiritual and pastoral conversion and to the reform of its life with respect to a more penetrating missionary outreach, such a significant, demanding talk had to receive the International Theological Commission’s (CTI) attention for a clearly needed conceptual and practical clarification. This commission worked intensely in this last 4-year period (2014-18) through one of the three sub-commissions carrying on its work to study the meaning of Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church as the document it published last Spring is titled. [...]