Cardinal Jose Advincula, archbishop of Manila, said “everyone has a voice” and “everyone must be heard” in the Catholic Church’s “synod on synodality,” which was launched by Pope Francis in October.
Speaking during Mass on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo at San Carlos Seminary in Makati City on November 4, Cardinal Advincula said a synod is “walking together.”
“Let us journey together. No one should walk ahead and no one should be left behind,” CBCP News quoted Cardinal Advincula’s homily.
It was the cardinal’s first time to celebrate Mass at the country’s first diocesan seminary, which was established in 1702, since he was installed Manila archbishop in June this year.
The synod is encouraging “real involvement on the part of each and all,” said the cardinal.
Echoing Pope Francis, he said the words “communion” and “mission” can risk remaining abstract unless synodality is concretely expressed at every step of the synodal journey.
Cardinal Advincula asked the seminarians to be part of the synodal process, adding that the seminary is rooted in synodality.
“Our patron is a bishop who fostered synodality. We were established because of synodality and we were envisioned to become a synodal seminary,” he said.
The cardinal has earlier called on the people to take part in the synodal process “no matter what your social, political, and economic, intellectual, or spiritual affiliation of our status is.”
He stressed that Pope Francis wants the widest participation possible in the process of consultation and discernment.
“Your perspective as well as your experience of God can be part of the Synodal journey of the whole archdiocese,” Cardinal Advincula said in his homily during the start of the process last month.
“In God’s family, you have a voice, and your voice counts,” he said.
Their consultation, he said, will involve not only the “church people” or those active in the church but “as many people as possible.”
The diocesan and national phases of the synodal process will run until August 2022 and will be followed by a continental phase from September 2022 to March 2023.
The final “universal Church phase” will culminate in the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.
