Pope Leo outlines his vision of synodality as he opens Diocese of Rome’s pastoral year

September 22, 2025

In an address for the beginning of the Diocese of Rome’s pastoral year, Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of synodality at the diocesan level.

“Through the synodal process, the Spirit has raised up the hope of an ecclesial renewal, capable of revitalizing communities, so that they may grow in the evangelical style, in closeness to God and in the presence of service and witness in the world,” Pope Leo said in his September 19 address at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. (The Vatican has not yet published an English translation of the address, which was delivered in Italian.)

“The fruit of the synodal journey, after a long period of listening and discussion, was first of all the impulse to enhance ministries and charisms, drawing on the baptismal vocation, putting at the center the relationship with Christ and the acceptance of brothers and sisters, starting with the poorest, sharing their joys and sorrows, hopes and struggles,” he continued. “In this way, the sacramental character of the Church is brought to light, which, as a sign of God’s love for humanity, is called to be a privileged channel so that the living water of the Spirit can reach everyone.”

“A synodal Church in mission,” the Pope explained, “values the gifts of each person” and has leadership that fosters peace and harmony. “What does this mean concretely?”

Pope Leo offered two answers to his question:

• “It is first of all a matter of working for the active participation of all in the life of the Church. In this regard, a tool for increasing the vision of the synodal and missionary Church is that of participatory bodies. They help the People of God to exercise fully their baptismal identity, strengthen the bond between ordained ministers and the community, and guide the process from community discernment to pastoral decisions. For this reason, I invite you to strengthen the formation of participatory bodies.”
• “In the same way, I would like to say a word about the prefectures, about the other bodies that connect different areas of pastoral life, as well as about the diocesan sectors themselves, designed to better connect neighboring parishes in a given territory with the center of the diocese. The risk is that these realities lose their function as instruments of communion and are reduced to a few meetings, where we discuss some theme together and then return, to think and live pastoral care in an isolated way ... I urge you to make these organisms true and proper spaces of community life where communion can be exercised,” places of “community discernment and baptismal and pastoral co-responsibility.”

Pope Leo then asked, “And about what are we called to discern today?” He offered three answers:

• “the relationship between Christian initiation and evangelization”: initiation, the Pope said, must “gradually enable people to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus, make people confident in listening to the Word, eager to live prayer and to work in charity.”
• “the involvement of young people and families”: “It seems urgent to me,” the Pope said, “to establish a pastoral care that is supportive, empathetic, discreet, non-judgmental, which knows how to welcome everyone, and propose paths that are as personalized as possible, suitable for the different life situations of the recipients ... a new apprenticeship, a pastoral care that becomes like a school capable of introducing [the faithful] to Christian life, of accompanying the phases of life, of weaving meaningful human relationships and, thus, of also having an impact on the social fabric.”
• formation at all levels: “We are experiencing an educational emergency and we must not delude ourselves that it is enough to carry out some traditional activity to keep our Christian communities vital. They must become generative: to be a womb that initiates faith and a heart that seeks those who have abandoned it. In parishes there is a need for formation and, where there are none, it would be important to include biblical and liturgical paths.”

“All this, I recommend, must be thought of and done together, in a synodal way,” the Pope said.

“The Gospel passage of the Samaritan woman closes with a missionary crescendo: the Samaritan woman goes to her fellow citizens, tells what has happened to her, and they go to Jesus and come to the profession of faith,” Pope Leo concluded. “I am sure that in our Diocese too, the journey begun and accompanied in recent years will lead us to mature in synodality, communion, co-responsibility and mission. We will renew in ourselves the joy of proclaiming the Gospel to every man and woman of our time; we will run towards them like the Samaritan woman, leaving our pitcher and carrying, instead, the water that quenches thirst eternally.”

 

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Further information:

• Liturgy of the Word on the occasion of the beginning of the new pastoral year of the Diocese of Rome (Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana)