Towards the Synod on Youth

Jan 13, 2017

By Robert Mickens
It is well known by now that Pope Francis will reconvene his Synod of Bishops in the autumn of 2018 to focus on young people in the Church. But the work to set the stage for that major gathering has already begun.

The preparatory document for Synod 2018 is undergoing final translations in various languages and Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Synod’s secretary-general, is expected to unveil it to the press in the coming days.

The text is reportedly about twenty or so pages in length and will once again include a questionnaire (as in the last two Synod gatherings on the family) to help take the pulse of the situation of Catholic youth and the world in which they live.

Evidently, two Italians in the Synod secretariat prepared the text, which was approved by the Synod’s elected council of bishops back in November.

Fr Raffaele “Lello” Lanzilli, a Jesuit from a small mountain town about an hour outside of Naples, appears to be the principal author.

Pope Francis made Fr Lanzilli an official of the Synod secretariat in 2015 after his Jesuit confrere had completed more than twenty years teaching and ministering in Albania, the second poorest country in Europe.

The Italian priest is one the Pope’s most trusted allies in Cardinal Baldisseri’s secretariat. And he’s also a vital aide in helping transform the working methods and functioning of the Synod so that it continues to become more of a place for the world’s bishops to freely debate, discern and deliberate on issues facing the Church.

But the questionnaire to help prepare for the 2018 Synod assembly will only be helpful if bishops from around the world actively encourage young people to answer its queries and speak to the topics it raises with complete candour.

The Pope knows that, unfortunately, most bishops and priests do not have the patience or desire to really listen to their concerns.

“It’s important to ‘waste time’ with youngsters,” Francis said on Thursday to participants of an Italian conference on vocations.

“Sometimes they are annoying, because — as I said — they always come with the same issues; but it’s their time,” he said.

“More than speaking to them, we must listen to them, and give them just a ‘tiny drop,’ a word here or there, and done, they can go. And this will be a seed which will work from within,” the Pope insisted.

The key question concerning preparations for the 2018 Synod assembly is how many bishops will actually “waste time” on their young people and really listen to what they have to say about their own “issues.” --American Magazine