Synod issues reports on polygamy, listening to the cry of the poor; LGBTQ+ community included

March 25, 2026

The General Secretariat of the Synod, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, released the fourth and fifth of 15 final reports of the study groups established by Pope Francis during the synod on synodality.

“To Hear the Cry of the Poor and the Earth” (executive summary, full text) offers recommendations on five themes:

• Means of Reaching Out to Listen
• The Christian Community and Service of Charity, Justice, Integral Development, and Integral Ecology
• Networking Initiatives and Combining Charity and Protecting Rights
• Theological Research that Listens to the Poor and the Earth
• Formation for Listening to the Poor and the Earth

The study group recommended that

all social ministries promote political love as “one of the highest forms of charity” (Fratelli tutti [FT], n. 180) by linking charity with advocacy for justice and defence of human rights in their own responses to the cries of the poor and the earth and/or through popular participation in advocacy networks or alliances. The Church must make its voice heard and show how people experiencing poverty struggle daily to survive, accompanying them closely.

The study group also recommended “respectful encounters with other creatures” and “insertion in” the LGBTQ+ community. It recommended

that formation programs include respectful encounters with other creatures and elements of creation in our Common Home ...

that formation includes opportunities for insertion in social movements and networks (e.g., indigenous communities, integral ecology, human rights, rights of women, Dalits, the LGBTQ+ community, those that link ecclesial and civil society networks) for cross-cultural learning, and to better understand the relationship between encounter, realities, and advocacy.

“The Pastoral Challenge of Polygamy” (executive summary, full text) was entrusted to a committee of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

Following an introduction, the report examines

• Polygamy in Africa, from Yesterday to Today
• Listening to the Biblical Experience
• Christian Marriage: One Man and One Woman
• Pastoral Experiences
• Theological Evaluation of Practices
• For a Pastoral Response to Polygamy

The report warned that “baptizing a polygamist who will continue to remain so would give every appearance of legitimizing this irregularity and could distort or even devalue baptism of its substance as the first sacrament of Christian initiation”:

The profession of faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as the renunciation of sin on the occasion of the liturgical rite of baptism, express a total adherence to the will of God contained in his Word, deepened by Tradition and taught by the Magisterium. Baptism is therefore an objective and subjective confirmation of this faith and this adherence.

This is to say that the Christian life inaugurated by baptism involves a decision in faith. It has its imperatives which, far from being a burden, constitute paths to perfection of dignity and salvation for man. And monogamous marriage is one of them.

Furthermore, the strength of the baptismal character is a precious help for the baptized person which brings him a permanent disposition to grace and opens to him eternal salvation.

In fact, anticipating the administration of baptism to a polygamist in the process of catechumenal preparation would mean configuring to Christ a person who has not yet decided to live in the Spirit of Christ and according to the radicality of the Gospel, in an authentic conversion. Also, this anticipation could create, for an indefinite period, an irregular situation (Gaudium et Spes, n. 74, § 2) where a baptized person objectively lives in a marital condition with sexual intercourse, but outside the sacrament of marriage.

Thus, baptizing a polygamist who will continue to remain so would give every appearance of legitimizing this irregularity and could distort or even devalue baptism of its substance as the first sacrament of Christian initiation. In addition, this would call into question a century-old family pastoral care that has already proven itself and borne fruit in our Churches.

Pope Francis established the 15 study groups in February 2024, between the first (October 2023) and second (October 2024) sessions of the synod on synodality, to examine topics raised in the first session. The General Secretariat stated on March 3:

The Final Reports are the fruit of a structured process: the listening to diverse competencies and professional expertise, the analysis of numerous contributions, academic research, dialogue with various ecclesial bodies—from Episcopal Conferences to Catholic universities—and, above all, discernment and prayer. They are to be understood as working documents.

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Previous articles on the synod reports:

• Synod releases study-group reports on online engagement, revisions to priestly formation (CWN, 3/4/26)
• Synod releases study-group report on women’s participation in the Church (CWN, 3/11/26)

 

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Further information:

• The pastoral challenge of polygamy and listening to the cry of the poor and the earth (General Secretariat of the Synod, 3/24/26)