(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 02.18.2025).- At the end of the morning of Tuesday, February 18, the meeting of the Coordinators and Secretaries of the 10 Study Groups on the themes that emerged during the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops took place. The meeting began with a moment of prayer in which the participants remembered the Holy Father, praying for his speedy recovery.
Afterwards, in turn, each coordinator presented the work of his or her group, dwelling in particular on the method used and the subjects (persons/organisations) involved; the timeframe envisaged for the delivery of the group’s report, and the difficulties encountered and open questions.
After this sharing time, particularly useful for those study groups dealing with ‘transversal’ issues, Fr. Giacomo Costa S.I., Consultor of the General Secretariat, provided some useful elements for a certain uniformity in the drafting of reports and their delivery.
The coordinators of the groups were informed of the availability of the Canonical Commission to accompany their respective work, particularly on those issues that should also touch on the canonical dimension.
Cardinal Mario Grech reminded the participants of the need to take into account those external contributions that may still arrive by email (synodus@synod.va), no later than 31 March 2025, to the General Secretariat as he had announced at the opening of the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (video). As it has been done so far, new contributions will be forwarded to the secretaries of the groups concerned in a timely manner.
The ten Study Groups are the fruits of the First Session of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops during which emerged various issues concerning the life and mission of the Church in a synodal perspective, and regarding which the Assembly consistently reached a consensus. Their matters require to be dealt with at the level of the whole Church and addressed with in-depth study.
The ten Study Groups were set up in March 2024 following Pope Francis’ Chirograph on collaboration between the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the General Secretariat of the Synod and his Letter to Cardinal Mario Grech in which he asked the Cardinal to guarantee the work of the study groups “according to an authentically synodal method” and the General Secretariat to “prepare the outline of work that would specify the mandate of the groups in the light of my indications”.
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