Ecumenical dimension of the synodal process

On Thursday, April 19, a Press Conference was held at the Holy See Press Office to conclude the second stage of the 2021-2024 synodal process: the continental stage.

Following presentations by Archbishop Timothy John Costelloe, President of the Australian Bishops' Conference, and Sr. Nathalie Becquart, Under-Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, Rev. Fr. Hyacinthe Destivelle, Official of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU), spoke about the international conferences, on synodality in the different Christian traditions, endorsed by the DPCU.

His presentation emphasized that these conferences, entitled "Listening to the East" and "Listening to the West," were intended as an ecumenical contribution to the ongoing synodal process. "It can be said not only that the ecumenical movement contributes to the ongoing synodal process, in all its phases, but also that the Catholic Church's synodal process is a contribution to the ecumenical movement," Fr. Destivelle noted, concluding that "synodality and ecumenism are in fact two processes of walking together that have a common goal: a better witness of Christians today, 'so that the world may believe' (Jn. 17:21)."