VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican’s press office released details of the upcoming Synod on Synodality starting later this month, with the full list of participants remaining largely unchanged while new events have been added to the month-long schedule.

In a September 16 press conference, the leadership of the Synod on Synodality unveiled the key details for the second session of the Synod set to begin in Rome on September 30.

Cardinals Mario Grech, the General Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, and Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, joined with officials from the Synod and the Dicastery for Communication to outline the rules, members, methodology and calendar for the Synod.

Much is similar to the 2023 session of the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican, though some variations have been made in the schedule along with the personnel at the meetings.

This event culminates the multiyear process that began in 2021. The meetings are expected to lead to a final document emanating from, or approved by, Pope Francis.

Preliminary retreat and repentance service: September 30-October 1

The Synod will begin on Monday, September 30, with all participants taking part in a two-day retreat. Last year’s retreat was held in Sacrofano, but this year it will instead take place in the Vatican.

Mostly held in private – with only certain sections of the retreat being livestreamed by the Vatican news portals – it will again be chiefly led by Father Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., a 79-year-old English Dominican notorious for his promotion of LGBT ideology and contradiction of Church teaching on the topic.

Also like last year, Radcliffe will be joined by Italian Benedictine Abbess Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, and the two will continue to act during the entire month as the “spiritual assistants” of the Synod.

A new addition to the calendar this year, however, is the “penitential vigil” held in the evening of October 1 in St. Peter’s Basilica. Led by Pope Francis, the vigil will hear the testimonies of three people “who have suffered sin: the sin of abuse; the sin of war; the sin of indifference to the drama present in the growing phenomenon of migrations all over the world.”

After this, “the confession of a number of sins will take place,” the Vatican announced. It did not give precise details on how the event will unfold: Could it thus yet represent a form of general confession?

“The aim is not to denounce the sin of others but to acknowledge oneself as a member of those who, by omission or action, become the cause of suffering and responsible for the evil inflicted on the innocent and defenseless,” the Vatican wrote. “Whoever expresses the request for forgiveness will do so in the name of all the baptized.”

Sins particularly being “confessed” include:

• Sin against peace
• Sin against creation, against indigenous populations, against migrants
• Sin of abuse
• Sin against women, family, youth
• Sin of using doctrine as stones to be hurled
• Sin against poverty
• Sin against synodality/lack of listening, communion, and participation of all (Emphasis added)

After the “confession,” Pope Francis will make a request for forgiveness to “God and to the sisters and brothers of all humanity … on behalf of all the faithful.”

NEW #Vatican Synod event Oct 1, is a mass Confession style gathering where people will confess sins “in name of all the baptized.”

Sins to confess include: “using doctrine as stones to be hurled…sins against synodality / lack of listening, communion, & participation of all” pic.twitter.com/UiyIgLCxDA

— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) September 16, 2024

Synod meetings: October 2-October 27

The Synod meetings begin in earnest on Wednesday, October 2. From here, the daily schedule of meetings will commence six days a week with morning and afternoon sessions.

Daily meetings

With the Instrumentum Laboris (working document) for the October 2024 Synod released earlier this year (LifeSite coverage here), the participants of the Synod will be focusing on that in their meetings throughout October.

READ: Vatican issues text underpinning controversial Synod on Synodality October meetings

Themes from the working document include calls to action for reorganizing Church governance and decision making to involve lay people in a more “synodal” style. Though the female diaconate is not technically billed as being part of the October 2024 synod meetings, nevertheless the document does echo the calls reportedly made by many for the female diaconate, also calling for women to be elevated to higher positions of governance and authority within the Church.

Daily meetings over the weeks will be divided into five key sections or modules, all composed of “plenary assembly sessions” or “General Congregations,” with other “Minor Circles.”

Each of the first four modules will follow this general order and will take several days:

• It will involve a Mass in the Vatican.
• Moving to the Paul VI Hall, it will then have an address on the theme of the specific module, given by the General Rapporteur, namely Cardinal Hollerich.
• The participants will then break into a General Congregation discussion followed by two Minor Circle discussions. All participants will give brief speeches before the assembly at every stage of the discussions.
• After the first two Minor Circle discussions, there will be three more General Congregation meetings to hear and discuss the results of the Minor Circle meetings.
• Following this, the Minor Circle groups will meet again to compile the Group Report, which will be handed to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops once it is approved.

The final module is aimed at “discussing, amending, and approving” the final document of the synod that is being worked on by a special commission throughout the meetings.

READ: Vatican confirms third study group is looking at issue of ‘female diaconate’

The participants will sing the Te Deum on October 26 and close the event on Sunday, October 28 with a papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Ecumenical prayer vigil

While 2023’s Synod began with an ecumenical prayer event, this year will see a similar such gathering on October 11. The date is deliberate, being the 62nd anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and nearly 60 years since the publication of the Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio.

It will be held in the Piazza of the Protomartyrs, where, as the Vatican’s press details note, St. Peter was martyred according to the testimony of tradition.

Practical points

The vast majority of the Synod will be closed to the public and the press. Near daily press briefings and conferences will be held, and certain documents released to the Vatican press corps, but information will be closely monitored by the special committee for information of the Synod.

Much speculation last year was made of the rumored Pontifical Secret being ordered for Synod participants. Though this did not transpire, participants were ordered to secrecy – just without the weight of the Pontifical Secret. Such remains the same this year, with the rules stating that participants must hold confidential everything they and others say in non-public sessions.

READ: Cardinal Müller suggests ‘anti-Catholic forces’ pushing pro-abortion Agenda 2030 in the Synod

Speaking to the press, Dr. Ruffini – prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication – explained this being due to wanting “to protect everybody’s free discernment and to reduce the noise in which we are always living. It’s a way that can allow the world … to stop, listen, and try to understand each other.”

In terms of compiling the final report, this will be handled by a commission of Synod participants, seven elected by the members and three chosen by Pope Francis, along with certain members of the Synod leadership.

It is not yet known if the final report will be issued via a press conference at the end of the Synod like last year or if it will emerge after the month’s events are concluded.

Members

According to the Vatican’s press office, the Synod has 368 “members” who have voting rights. Approximately 272 of these are bishops, 96 are non-bishops.

Other “participants” who do not hold voting rights include 70 “experts” along with ecumenical delegates and special invitees.

Compared with last year’s members, there are only 26 changes. From the U.S., Baltimore Archbishop William Lori will replace Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Meanwhile, the Pope’s personal picks for the Synod remain largely the same, though controversial figures such as Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio will join other equally controversial figures already also personally selected by Francis, including Cardinals Blase Cupich, Jozef De Kesel, Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy and Father James Martin, S.J.

But also making the Pope’s personal selection is Bishop Rolando José Alvarez, the exiled bishop of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, who has been living in the Vatican since earlier this year after being expelled from the country.

LifeSite will provide detailed and daily coverage of the Synod on Synodality on the ground during the entire length of the proceedings. Updates will be posted on LifeSiteNews.com and on X/Twitter account of LifeSite’s Vatican correspondent.