Given the fact that every synod is an occasion to experience communion in the one spirit in the one faith and hope and the one Catholic Church, this synodality is a process, a way of leading the church, and an ecclesial journey that everyone must accomplish together. Synodality is the form that realizes the participation of all the people of God in the mission. On the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the synod of bishops in October 2015, Pope Francis asserted that the synodal church is a church that listens and realizes that listening is more than simply hearing. It is a mutual listening in each in which everyone has something to learn. The faithful people, the college of bishops, and the bishop of Rome all listened to each other, and all listened to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth in order to know what he says to the churches.
In his recent letter to the bishops of the whole world, Pope Francis quoted two Vatican documents that unlighted the importance of church unity, referring to the Sacro sanctum Concilium. The holy father explained that the church, the sacrament of unity is such because it is the holy people gathered and governed under the authority of the bishops and then quoted the Lumen Gentium which states that the bishops are the visible principle and foundation of the unity of your local churches in which and through which exists the one and holy and only catholic church to make the church the home and the school of communion is the great challenge facing us in this millennium.
Synodality refers to the very essence of the church which is oriented towards the spreading of the gospel. The church’s primary mission is proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ, to make Christ known, it is the most precious gift that one can give to others – go and make disciples of all nations. In committing ourselves to this undertaking we are both being faithful to the mission of the church and also helping to construct a renewed society concretely through the very witness of our lives, by the way, we live god’s love in our daily life, and by the support, we give one another, we can be effective instruments of spreading the gospel and transforming society. In an evangelical nation, Pope Francis asserts that the intensity of the love of God and neighbour zeal for justice and peace, the gospel meaning of the poor and poverty are required of everyone. Poverty possesses a dramatic problem of justice, making this impossible to bring about the full humanism that the church hopes for and pursues so that persons and peoples may be more human and live in a condition that are more human Indeed true evangelization aims at the transformation of society, especially care for people living in poverty in misery and on the fringes of the society.
His Excellency added , “In this kind of struggle, if you want to call it that, we should remember that we are not standing up for just our rights as Catholics. We are standing for all minorities and the rights provided to minorities under the Indian constitution.”
I thank you for your lives of faith and the support you give to the spread of the gospel. Our faith in Christ can help us to build bonds of communion with which order we need to fight all forms of the equation of selfishness, the greed of exploitation of violence, of abuse, and build bridges of love and peace. We need to be loving, generous respectful merciful, and tolerant of one another. May Christ pour out his grace upon you all now and forever.
