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Podcast: Centre for Catholic Studies Podcast
Episode: How does the new Synod process work?
Description: How does the new synod process work? An interview with Austen Ivereigh
The October 2023 synod assembly in the Vatican is adopting a very different process to the one used by previous gatherings, which is demonstrated by the arrangement of round tables in the Pope Paul VI audience hall.
The sight of bishops and cardinals seated around tables with lay delegates is deliberate and designed to foster what Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the synod co-ordinator, described as “genuine sharing and authentic discernment”.
Significantly, the seating is not “hierarchical”, symbolising the vision of the Church as primarily the “People of God”, which is at the heart...