When Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, he surprised the world by using a word that was likely not recognizable to most of his global audience: synodal. “We want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering,” he said.

To those in the know, Leo’s use of the word “synodal”—describing a church that listens well, accompanies people in the messiness of life and consults widely across church constituencies before making decisions—signaled that he intended to continue forward Pope Francis’ signature reform process, the Synod on Synodality.

In the months since, Leo has, it seems, allowed the process to continue unencumbered. He reapproved the synod implementation plan that Pope Francis had signed off on in mid-March and, per a June 10 letter from Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops,  a copy of which was seen by America, Pope Leo encouraged the work of the study groups—some of which are working on controversial topics, like the roles of bishops and of women—to continue.

In July, the synod published its “Pathways” document outlining the synod’s implementation phase, which included the announcement that Leo had approved the addition of two new study groups. The first is on “The Liturgy in a Synodal Perspective,” which could include reforms to liturgical texts, and the other on “The Statute of Episcopal Conferences, Ecclesial Assemblies, and Particular Councils.” These had been proposed at the 2024 Roman meeting of the synod.

The synod secretariat also announced in a June 30 press release that interim reports from the study groups would be published “as they are received,” but none have yet been published. 

Still, since the papal election, a key question has gone unanswered: What will synodality look like under Pope Leo? In particular, given Leo’s desire to be a bridge-builder, how will he bring on board those who are resistant to this reform process?

The Jubilee of Synodal Teams

This past weekend’s Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies provided the clearest answers from Leo thus far in his pontificate. The jubilee, which welcomed members of various groups already working synodally in the church—those who carried out local listening sessions for the Synod on Synodality, for example, or members of parish and diocesan councils—included a revealing question-and-answer session with the pope, as well as a papal Mass at which Leo spoke more about his vision for a synodal church.

Responding to a question from the representative from Africa, Pope Leo stressed that the “first word” in the discussion of synodality should be “mission,” and that the synodal process is meant “to help the church fulfill her primary role in the world…to announce the Gospel and to give witness to the person of Jesus Christ in every part of the world.”

He described synodality as “a way of being for the church. It is a way of promoting an attitude, which begins with learning to listen to one another,” and acknowledged that “the gift of listening…has often been lost in certain sectors of the church.”

Representing the United States and Canada, Bishop Alain Flaubert of Montréal spoke first in Spanish about the plight of migrants in the United States, then in English and French to give updates on the synod’s implementation phase in the United States and Canada, respectively. While he acknowledged “signs of hope,” including that the U.S. bishops had embraced some synodal communication methods and that so many local diocesan coordinators were present at the jubilee, his first question to Pope Leo seemed to strike a chord with the audience: “What would you say to bishops and priests who are concerned that synodality may diminish their authority as pastors?”

After Bishop Flaubert’s question, many people in the crowd made sounds of agreement or made comments to those next to them. The pope acknowledged the reaction: “One of the disagreements that apparently many of you experienced—judging by your reaction when the question was asked—is the concern among some pastors or bishops that their authority may be diminished. Apparently some of you have had that conversation, let us say.”

Leo responded by asking those present “to reflect upon what synodality is about, and to invite the priests, particularly even more so than the bishops, I think, to somehow open their hearts and take part in these processes.”

He cautioned, “We have to understand that we do not all run at the same speed, and sometimes we have to be patient with one another” or risk “a rift in the ecclesial experience.”

The pope was also asked by Austrian theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar about what women can hope for in a synodal church and whether a cultural change was underway that could eventually lead to “equality between women and men in the church.” Leo said that in this conversation, he would be “leaving aside the more difficult themes, let’s say, that are part of the work of a study group,” almost certainly referring to the work of Study Group 5 on ministerial roles for women in the church. (During last year’s synod, it was revealed that the group’s work had been subsumed into an already-underway process in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and that the specific question of the female diaconate would be addressed by reviving a previous study commission, the second of its kind, unrelated to the synod.)

Interestingly, the pope did speak about a group of nuns he had known in Peru “whose charism is to work where there are no priests. They have the faculty to baptize, to assist at weddings…. They do a wonderful missionary work, which really is a testimony even for many priests,” he said.

However, Leo said, “appointing a woman here or there” would not solve the underlying problem. “I think the problem is not that possibilities do not exist, but that culturally, obstacles exist,” the pope said, mentioning that women are in some cultures treated as “second-class citizens,” and that within the church, “not all bishops or priests want to permit that women exercise what could very well be their role.”

This comment seemed to echo the call of Paragraph 60 of the synod’s final document for “full implementation of all the opportunities already provided for in Canon Law with regard to the role of women.”

The pope described the inequality of women in some cultures as just one of many “prejudices, discriminations which exist and which clearly go against the Gospel” and urged Catholics to “be courageous, accompany situations and realities so that gradually, perhaps, changes may be introduced—transformations of these cultures—in which authentic discriminations may be eliminated.” Whether changes might be introduced in the church, he did not say.

What’s next for the synod?

The synod’s implementation phase will continue until the end of this year. In 2027, the “evaluation phase” begins in order to prepare evaluations of the synod’s implementation ahead of a 2028 ecclesial assembly in Rome.

The first half of 2027 will be dedicated to “evaluation assemblies” on the diocese/eparchy level, and the second half will see similar assemblies for “groupings of churches” like national and international bishops’ conferences and similar structures in the Eastern churches. As in the listening phase at the beginning of the synodal process, the feedback will then be consolidated and discussed at continental assemblies and likely synthesized further into one document ahead of the 2028 assembly, which will be held in October.

As for the ongoing work of the study groups, the original Oct. 30 deadline for final reports has been extended to Dec. 31. According to Cardinal Grech’s June 10 letter to study group coordinators, the reports must include a first section on the methods used and people consulted, “showing that the Groups have been above all laboratories of synodality.” The second part should address the topics covered, and groups can add optional appendices with further information and/or an optional third section, “containing sensitive or debated issues on which the Group invites particular caution.” The cardinal also recommended that the groups submit any supplementary materials that the groups produced or collected so that the Synod secretariat can keep them “on record.”