Synodality and Its Issues – Catholic World Report

In March 2018, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission (ITC) issued a text entitled “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church.” This provides the foundational material for current discussions of synodality. But it followed a previous ITC document that gives it some important context: “Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church,” issued in 2014. Both make worthwhile, if tedious, reading. Especially when the 2018 document is read through the lens of the earlier one. The 2014 text was approved for publication by then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller.The 2018 synodality text notes that the word “synodality” is a neologism, a “linguistic novelty which needs careful theological clarification.” In other words, it’s ambiguous. In fact, the meaning of the concept is far from obvious. The text argues further that, “Although synodality is not explicitly found as a term or as a concept in the teaching of Vatican II, it is fair to say that synodality is at the heart of the work of renewal the Council was encouraging.”

Synodality and Its Issues – Catholic World Report