Pope Francis is seen on a monitor at the Synod on Synodality.
Pope Francis is seen on a monitor at the Synod on Synodality. (photo: Daniel Ibañez / CNA)

Synod on Synodality Update, and Life on the Ballot (Oct. 21)

The Synod on Synodality assembly now gathered at the Vatican is moving into the closing stretch. The final synod reports are expected next weekend and then in early November this phase of the synod concludes and the Church looks ahead to the next synod assembly set to gather in October 2024. What has emerged so far from the synod discussion? The Register’s Senior Vatican Analyst Edward Pentin joins us with a report on the synod. And then, we turn to national politics in the United States as many states are going to the polls for important matters concerning abortion, women’s health and unborn children. We are joined by the Register’s Washington Correspondent Lauretta Brown.

Pope Francis holds his rosary during the Mass for the conclusion of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 29, 2023.

The Need for a Deeper Theology of Synodality

COMMENTARY: Without explicit clarification, the synthesis document of the recent Synod on Synodality seems to teeter on a Protestant understanding of ministry, where all ministry flows from baptism, and a correspondingly Protestant ecclesiology, which is essentially baptismal and only secondarily Eucharistic, if at all.