Cardinal Koch opens the Symposium "Listening to the West"

On Thursday, January 26, 2023, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Sr. Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Synod, opened the international ecumenical symposium "Listening to the West".

The symposium, organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum with the patronage of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the General Secretariat of the Synod, gathers over 40 theologians and aims to consider the different conceptions and experiences of synodality according to Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed, Methodists and Old Catholics), as an ecumenical academic consultation for the current Catholic synodal process.

In his address, Cardinal Koch stated that "'synodality' is a challenge for the Church of our time. And as Catholics we wish to explore the different 'synodal approaches' of our brothers and sisters, in an attitude of listening. It is our firm conviction that "what the Holy Spirit has sown in you is also a gift for us" (Evangelii Gaudium  246). Therefore, attentive listening, authentic spiritual discernment and avoiding self-referential attitudes are key if we wish this exercise will succeed in order to strengthening our Christian witness in the world as “evangelizers fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit.” (EG 259)