Foreword “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one
another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:5-6).
The journey so far
The People of God have been on the move since Pope Francis convened the whole Church in
Synod in October 2021. Beginning at their most vital and elementary level, the local Churches
across the globe have initiated the consultation of the People of God, starting with the basic
question formulated in no. 2 of the Preparatory Document (PD): “How does this ‘journeying
together,’ which takes place today on different levels (from the local level to the
universal one), allow the Church to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the
mission entrusted to Her; and what steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to
grow as a synodal Church?”. The fruits of the consultation were collected at the diocesan
level and then summarised and sent to the Synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the
Episcopal Conferences. In their turn, each drafted a synthesis that was forwarded to the
General Secretariat of the Synod.
In order to serve a new stage in the ongoing synodal process, the Working Document for the
Continental Stage (DCS) was drafted from the reading and analysis of the documents collected.
The DCS was returned to the local Churches around the world, inviting them to engage with it
and then to meet and enter into dialogue at the seven Continental Assemblies. During this time,
the work of the Digital Synod also continued. The aim was to focus on the insights and tensions
that resonated most strongly with the experience of the Church on each continent and to
identify, from the perspective of each continent, the priorities to be addressed in the first
session of the Synodal Assembly (October 2023).
For the full document see below: