THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF THE SYNODAL CHURCH

THE GIFT AND AGENCY of the Holy Spirit are necessary for and central to a Church that aims to embark on a synodal path. The Holy Spirit guides the entire people of God, and the ecclesial discernment that allows the people to follow in the footsteps of Christ is also a product of the work of the Spirit. This recognition of a profoundly pneumatological presence of God on the path to synodality marks Pope Francis’s thought: “Synodality is an ecclesial journey whose soul is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit there is no synodality.”1 Even before becoming pope, he emphasized the metaphor of the Holy Spirit at work in a symphony and suggested that the harmonizing (but not homogenizing) of difference would be the mark of the Spirit in this new ecclesial mode of discernment. More recently, synod participants and even Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, have symbolized openness to the Spirit by maintaining an empty chair at synodal gatherings.

Duke Scholars

Author Peter Joseph Casarella Divinity School