VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After members of the Synod of Bishops approved their final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary post-synodal apostolic exhortation but would offer the final document to the entire church to implement.
“There are already highly concrete indications in the document that can be a guide for the mission of the churches in the different continents and contexts,” he told synod members late Oct. 26.
“For that reason, I do not intend to publish an apostolic exhortation. What we have approved is enough,” he said. Instead, he ordered the publication of the synod’s final document.
With the exceptions of the first synods convoked by St. Paul VI in 1967 and 1971, all ordinary assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have been followed by an exhortation on the synod’s themes and discussions by the pope.
Members of the synod on synodality, after meeting for a month in 2023 and again from Oct. 2-26, approved their final document by voting on each of the 155 paragraphs. All paragraphs passed with the approval of more than two-thirds of the members present and voting.
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With thanks to the America Magazine and Cindy Wooden – Catholic News Service, where this article originally appeared.
