As the Holy Land is immersed in this violence and bloodshed, we remember that Jesus, the Son of God, who lived and walked there as Love Incarnate, through His teaching by word and deed, calls us as brothers and sisters to be always united by the bond of charity. ...read more

What can we expect from this current Synodal Process? Like in any process of authentic discernment that tries to hear God’s will, the short answer is that we don’t really know. ...read more

Today we begin to reflect on B.1 of the Instrumentum Laboris, ‘A Communion that radiates.’ The theme that emerged most frequently in our sessions last week was formation. So how can we all be formed for communion that overflows into mission? In John Chapter 4, we hear of the encounter of Jesus with the woman ...read more

The IL describes the Synod as a liturgical assembly in part to minimize the sense that it’s “a parliamentary structure with its dynamics of majority building” (#48). ...read more

The XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops is happening at the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. Among the over 400 participants at the Synod are participants from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. ...read more

To my mind, the most striking image from the Instrumentum Laboris happens to be the most traditional. ...read more

Pope Francis is heading to Marseille, France this weekend on his 44th Apostolic Journey abroad. ...read more

Saint John Paul II would often say that “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!” (Ut Unum Sint #54) ...read more

As a minority Catholic country, the pope is relatively unknown in Mongolia. Over fifty percent of the people practice Buddhism, while there are less than 1,500 practising Catholics in the country. During a media roundtable, Salesian Father Jaroslav Vracovský, a pastor in Mongolia, said that locals were “shocked” when they found out that the pope ...read more

Many synod observers may be tempted to think of "Communion, Participation, Mission" as three discrete and potentially disconnected "pillars" of synodality. The IL directly confronts that perception (#43), ...read more