The Holy See Press Office has released the Instrumentum laboris – or working document – that will guide the work of the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod that will be held in Rome from 2 – 27 October. Cardinal Vincent Nichols has welcomed the release of the document, saying: “This is a welcome document which has clarity of purpose, firmness of foundations, refreshing perspectives and concrete pathways for development.
“Its purpose is clear: to rekindle hope, to spark renewal in discipleship, to restore a missionary outreach in the Church on the basis of our common baptism and to do so through working and walking together. As is noted (para 3), the People of God are never simply the sum of the baptised. It is the ‘we’ of the Church, with its variety of gifts and responsibilities, reaching across history, always accompanied by Mary, Mother of the Church.”
Synod Submission for the Second Plenary Assembly 2024: Reflection on the life of the Catholic Church in England and Wales offered in preparation for the meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, October 2024.