Cardinal Sergio da Rocha of Brasilia, Brazil, was chosen by Pope Francis to serve as relator general of the Synod on youth. To strengthen and support young people in the Faith, members of the Synod of Bishops will need to listen to their real-life stories, interpret what they hear in the light of the Gospel and make decisions that will lead to an authentic renewal of the Catholic Church, said Brazilian Cardinal Sergio da Rocha.
“Often we hear voices that blame young people for moving away from the Church. But many of them have lived in situations that lead them to affirm that it was the Church that moved away from them,” said Cardinal da Rocha, archbishop of Brasilia and relator general of the Synod of Bishops 2018.
The Brazilian cardinal introduced the work of the synod on October 3 and midway through the meeting will summarise the speeches individual bishops make in the synod hall.
The synod kicked off yesterday and will continue until October 28 discussing ‘young people, the Faith and vocational discernment’.
Introducing the synod at a news conference on October 1, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, synod general secretary, said it will have 267 voting members.
Conferences
The synod’s members include 15 heads of Eastern Catholic churches, 16 heads of Vatican offices, 15 members of the synod’s permanent council, 181 members elected by national bishops’ conferences and the men’s Union of Superiors General and 40 members named by Pope Francis. Eighteen of the voting members are priests; two are religious brothers.
On October 1 the synod released a new ‘Instruction of the Celebration of Synodal Assemblies and on the Activity of the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops’. The document specifies that religious brothers may be voting members of a synod, but women may not.
Cardinal Baldisseri said, however, that the synod observers, which include women and 34 young people between the ages of 18 and 29, can participate in the synod’s working groups and are encouraged to help formulate the synod’s final resolutions.
The instruction and Pope Francis’ new constitution on the synods, which was published on September 18, looks to the future, but “first of all looks to the past, to the deposit of Faith and the tradition of the Church,” the cardinal said. “It is the structure of the Church for a synod of bishops. Obviously, there is an increasing effort to involve the entire people of God.”