VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio presented a new book in which he describes synodality as a form of shared governance in which clergy and laypeople participate equally.
On March 25, Vatican News published an interview with Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio to present his book Chiesa Sinodale in Cammino (“Synodal Church on the Way”), published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, offering a pastoral interpretation of the Final Document of the 2023–2024 Synod of Bishops, with the stated aim of helping parish priests and Church structures apply its teachings concretely by promoting a form of “shared ecclesial governance” in which clergy and laypeople decide together.
“An act of governance carried out solely by the parish priest or by the bishop is like a Mass celebrated without the faithful: valid, but lacking something essential,” Coccopalmerio said.
In presenting the volume, the cardinal described it as a “pastoral translation” of the Synod’s Final Document, intended especially for parish clergy tasked with transmitting its content to the faithful and to members of parish pastoral councils. He explained that the original document, while “rich, is not easily usable for catechetical or pastoral purposes” without further simplification and interpretation.
According to Coccopalmerio, “Pope Francis gave the document a very strong doctrinal relevance.” In his view, there are two points that “must be understood.”
First, the “concept of synodality” should be distinguished from the more “general” notion of “ecclesiality.” In fact, in traditional theological language—before contemporary reinterpretations—synodality and ecclesiality were always used as synonyms. A synod has always referred to the body of bishops, understood either as the whole college or as specific assemblies.
Francis, however, has given this word a “specific” meaning, namely “the common activity of two subjects, pastors and the faithful,” consisting in “gathering, dialoguing, discerning, and deciding the good of the Church”—all activities to be carried out within appropriate “structures of synodality, for example, in the case of a parish, the parish pastoral council.” Coccopalmerio is therefore explicitly stating that synodality, according to Francis, entails a more democratic conception of governance in the Church.
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The second foundational concept is the following: “(W)hen pastors and the faithful gather, dialogue, discern, and decide the good of the Church, what the document calls the presence of the Holy Spirit occurs, who makes His voice heard and His will known. Thus, within these structures something human takes place, yet at the same time something that exceeds this human visibility.”
