{{Short description|Catholic term}} '''Synodality''' (from synod which is Greek σύν "together", and ὁδός "way, journey") in the Catholic Church is a term "often used to describe the process of fraternal collaboration and discernment" in the whole church. The Synod of Bishops is held to embody this characteristic of the church.<ref name=what>{{Cite web|title=What is 'synodality'? Experts explain|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/39731/what-is-synodality-experts-explain|access-date=2022-01-12|website=Catholic News Agency|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422003535/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/39731/what-is-synodality-experts-explain|archive-date=22 April 2021}}</ref>
== Meaning == Synodality denotes the particular style that qualifies the life and mission of the Catholic Church. Theologian Jessica Murdoch, associate professor of fundamental and dogmatic theology at Villanova University, has observed that "synodality is a rich concept with a long history in the Church".<ref name=what /> The Holy See's International Theological Commission states that synodality, when it concerns the Catholic Church, designates "the specific ''modus vivendi et operandi'' of the Church, the People of God, which reveals and gives substance to her being as communion when all her members journey together, gather in assembly and take an active part in her evangelising mission". Synodality also "refers to the involvement and participation of the whole People of God in the life and mission of the Church".<ref>International Theological Commission, [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church] (2 March 2018), no. 6.</ref> The church's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity notes that the term synodality "[b]roadly [...] refers to the active participation of all the faithful in the life and mission of the Church".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chieti Document {{!}} Synodality and Primacy During the First Millennium. Towards a Common Understanding in Service to the Unity of the Church|url=https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi/sezione-orientale/chiese-ortodosse-di-tradizione-bizantina/commissione-mista-internazionale-per-il-dialogo-teologico-tra-la/documenti-di-dialogo/testo-in-inglese1.html|access-date=2022-02-07|website=www.christianunity.va}}</ref>
The final document of the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (also called the ''Synod on synodality'') defines synodality as "a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the Church to be more participatory and missionary, so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liedl |first=Jonathan |date=27 October 2024 |title=10 questions (and answers) about the Synod on Synodality’s final document |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260117/ten-questions-and-answers-about-the-synods-final-document |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref>
==Contemporary usage== Synodality is seen as one of the key words that characterized the pontificate of Pope Francis.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Baranowski|first=Martin|date=2021-09-20|title=Synodalität als Stärkung der Kirche|url=https://www.die-tagespost.de/kirche-aktuell/weltkirche/synodalitaet-als-staerkung-der-kirche-art-221393|access-date=2022-01-12|website=Die Tagespost|language=de-DE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-18|title=Pope to Rome's faithful: Synodality expresses the nature of the Church - Vatican News|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-09/pope-francis-discourse-rome-faithful-synodal-process.html|access-date=2022-01-12|website=www.vaticannews.va|language=en}}</ref>
A document by the International Theological Commission discussing synodality was published in March 2018.<ref name="itc">{{Cite web|title=Synodality in the life and mission of the Church (2 March 2018)|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20180302_sinodalita_en.html|access-date=2022-01-12|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>
Synodality became the theme of the Synod on synodality.
== See also == * Collegiality in the Catholic Church * Conciliarity * ''Sensus fidelium'' * Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church
==References== {{reflist}}
== Further reading == {{Wikiquote}} * {{Cite journal|last=Corecco|first=Eugenio|author-link=Eugenio Corecco|date=1999|title=Ontology of Synodality|url=https://www.eugeniocorecco.ch/scritti/scritti-scientifici/canon-law-and-communio/canon-law-and-communio-16/|journal=Canon Law and Communio|language=English|pages=341}} * {{Cite journal|last=Faggioli|first=Massimo|author-link=Massimo Faggioli|date=2020-04-27|title=From Collegiality to Synodality: Promise and Limits of Francis's 'Listening Primacy'|url=|journal=Irish Theological Quarterly|volume=85|issue=4|pages=352–369|doi=10.1177/0021140020916034|s2cid=219064703 |issn=0021-1400}} * {{Cite book |last=McQueen |first=Moira |url= |title=Walking Together: A Primer on the New Synodality |date=2022 |publisher=Twenty-Third Publications |isbn=978-1-62785-692-8 |language=en}} * {{Cite journal|last=Renken|first=John A.|date=2018|title=Synodality: A Constitutive Element of the Church|url=|journal=Studia Canonica|volume=52 |issue=1|pages=5–44|doi=10.2143/STC.52.1.3285212|issn=2295-3027}} * {{Cite journal|last=Roper|first=Elissa|date=October 2018|title=Synodality: A process committed to transformation|url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.022849727579140|journal=The Australasian Catholic Record|volume=95|issue=4|pages=412–423}} * {{Cite journal|last=Welch|first=Lawrence J.|date=Summer 2015|title=Collegiality, Synodality, and the Synod of Bishops|url=https://stpaulcenter.com/08-nv-13-3-welch/|journal=Nova et Vetera|volume=13|issue=3|pages=787–813}}
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Category:Catholic theology and doctrine Category:Christian terminology