Pope Francis has set the dates for the second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly, which will take place from Wednesday, October 2, to Sunday, October 27, 2024, the General Secretariat of the Synod said in announcement on Saturday, February 17.
The session will continue the work of the Synod on synodality under the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.”
It will be preceded by two days of spiritual retreat, from September 30 to October 1, with participants expected to arrive in Rome on September 29.
On Saturday, the Holy Father released a chirograph establishing the creation of study groups to delve into some of the themes that emerged in the first Synod session.These groups will be formed among the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, which will coordinate them.
In the chirograph, which is dedicated to the collaboration between the curial dicasteries, and the Secretariat of the Synod, the Pope recalls that the constitution on the Roman Curia Praedicate Evangelium states that the “life of communion makes the Church synodal.”
This chirograph reiterates that the duties of the General Secretariat of the Synod, which depends directly on the Pope and “supports and accompanies the synodal process as established from time to time,” include promoting the relationships between various bishops and local Churches in a synodal spirit and in communion with the Bishop of Rome. It concludes by establishing that “the dicasteries of the Roman Curia collaborate, according to their respective specific competences, in the activity of the General Secretariat of the Synod, forming study groups that shall begin, following the synodal method, an in-depth study of some of the themes that emerged” in the first session of the Synod.
“These study groups are to be established by mutual agreement between the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod, to which coordination is entrusted,” the chirograph reads.
The document, titled, “Towards October 2024” by the General Secretariat of the Synod, published on December 11, 2023, already emphasized that the next session would focus on how to live synodality at all levels in the Church. This document also clarifies that some of the most significant themes which emerged from listening to the Churches will require a substantial amount of time for theological, canonical, and pastoral reflection.
The General Secretariat of the Synod, led by Cardinal Mario Grech, will coordinate the work of the study groups among the dicasteries. As an entity, the Secretariat is not part of the Roman Curia but rather reports directly to the Pontiff.