Excerpts from the Press Conference - 26 August 2022 - held at the Vatican

Sr Nathalie Becquart said, “What emerges very strongly is that this first stage of the synod constituted a veritable practical school of synodality enabling a large number to integrate more personally and communally how synodality is truly God's call for the Church of the 3rd millennium, and to appropriate the challenge of becoming ever more a Church of listening and dialogue.”

“The challenge for the opening of this new continental stage is therefore to pursue synodal conversion at all levels, the "synodalisation" of all ecclesial realities which requires a real change of mentality and also new ways of living life and mission in the Church as brothers and sisters in Christ with equal dignity. This notably involves training in listening skills, discernment and teamwork. And this cannot be done without the young, the women, the poorest and the most suffering - especially the victims of abuse - whose voices we must continue to hear better and involve in this process of discernment because they are engines of synodality.”

While Monsignor Luis Marín de San Martín OSA said, “My assessment is decisive and clearly positive. • I believe that we are in an irreversible process, with different speeds, full of nuances and necessary clarifications, but with no turning back. That, little by little, is penetrating, is being purified and is renewing and reforming the Church.”

THE DOCUMENT FOR THE CONTINENTAL STAGE

Cardinal Mario Grech affirmed that the next phase of the synod process would include ordinary Catholics and not be just a meeting of bishops. The document synthesising the material local churches had submitted would be drawn up by a panel of experts (see below) and released by the end of October or early November.

This text would be sent to the local Churches for further discussion and reflection, with each bishop being asked “to bring the document to the knowledge of his [local] Church”. The aim, he explained, was for the document to return to where “the consultation took place” and to ensure it is adequately received by ordinary believers.

Between January to March 2023, discernment will continue through regional assemblies involving bishops, presbyters, deacons, religious and lay Catholics.

• African assembly - 1-7 March 2023 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• European assembly - 5-12 February 2023 - Czech Republic
• South America (CELAM), - 20 to 31 March 2023 - Colombia (Bogotá)
• Middle East (CPCO) - 12-18 February 2023
• Asia (FABC), Oceania (FCBO), North America (USCCB + CCCB) - dates and places to be decided.

It is seen that these assemblies are a chance to deepen the listening and discernment process and demonstrate that the synod is designed as an ongoing process rather than a one-off occurrence.

List of experts in alphabetical order

• Prof. Souraya BECHEALANY, Director of the Research Center of the Faculty of Religious Sciences (Lebanon)
• Father Paul BÉRÉ, SJ, Professor of Exegesis of the Old Testament at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Burkina Faso)
• Mons. Philippe BORDEYNE, Dean of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological for Marriage and Family Sciences (France)
• Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and theInstitut Catholique of Paris (Belgium)
• Prof. Teresa CHOI, Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the University Sogang (Korea)
• Msgr.Piero CODA, Secretary of the Pontifical International theological Commission (Italy)
• Prof. Kristin COLBERG, Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Saint John's School of Theology (United States)
• HE Msgr.Timothy COSTELLOE, President of the Australian Bishops' Conference (Australia)
• Sr. Anne Béatrice FAYE, CIC, Doctor of Philosophy and Member of the Association of African Theologians (ATA) (Burkina Faso)
• Fr Gaby Alfr and HACHEM, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (Lebanon)
• Dr. Austen IVEREIGH, Coordinator of the project "The path to a synodal Church" (United Kingdom)
• Prof. Christina KHENG, Professor of pastoral leadership at the Pastoral Institute of East Asia, (Singapore)
• Father Thomas KOLLAMPARAMPIL, CMI, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Dharmaran Vidiya Ksheteram in Bangalore (India)
• Dr. Mauricio LOPEZ OROPEZA, Coordinator of the Center for Networking and pastoral action of CELAM (Ecuador)
• Prof. Rafael LUCIANI, Full Professor of Theology at the Catholic University of Venezuela (Venezuela)
• Father David MC CALLUM, SJ, Executive Director of the Discerning Leadership (United States)
• Prof. Susan PASCOE , Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia (Australia)
• Don Ormond RUSH, Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Australian Catholic University (Australia)
• Prof. Peter SZABO, Full Professor at the Institute of Canon Law of the Catholic University "Pázmány Péter" of Budapest (Hungary)
• Fr Paulo Alexandre TERROSO SILVA, Director of the Social Communications Office of the Archdiocese of Braga ( Portugal)
• Father Vimal TIRIMANNA, C.SS.R., Professor of moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy
• Sr. Birgit WEILER, theological consultant of the "Episcopal Commission for Social Action" (CEAS) in Peru and of the "Commission for justice and solidarity "of the Latin American Bishops' Conference (CELAM) (Peru)
• Awaiting confirmation from a professor from Africa