Synod releases document on path toward 2028 Ecclesial Assembly

Remembering, interpreting, orienting, celebrating. These are the four key stages accompanying local Churches, Bishops' Conferences, and continental groupings towards the Ecclesial Assembly that will take place in October 2028 in the Vatican.

They are proposed by the General Secretariat of the Synod in support of the implementation phase through the document Towards the 2027–2028 Assemblies: stages, criteria, and tools in preparation for the 2027–2028 Assemblies, published on 20 May.

The text defines the calendar, methodology, and criteria through which local Churches throughout the world and their national and continental groupings are called to share the fruits of the journey begun after the Final Document of the 2021–2024 Synod, leading up to the Ecclesial Assembly of October 2028.

The process, which will lead to the celebration of an assembly at each stage, unfolds in four progressive moments, marked by key verbs that highlight their ecclesial and spiritual purpose.

The first half of 2027 is dedicated to Remembering. Evaluation assemblies in dioceses and eparchies are called to reread the experience of implementing the Final Document through a narrative report and a letter to the other Churches.

In the second half of 2027 comes the time to Interpret. Assemblies of Bishops' Conferences (national or regional) will prepare a theological-pastoral report and a letter addressed to the other local Churches.