Post-Synodal Exhortation Near?

B16’s promised post-synodal exhortation following the Synod on the Eucharist last fall is expected out soon, with November being a commonly speculated timeframe. There was some worry that it might take longer because it took the drafting committee that prepared the first version of the document for the pope a long time to complete its work–to the point that the pontiff himself publicly commented on the delay (ouch).

Now news sources are reporting that the release of the document is "imminent."

EXCERPTS:

Citing informed sources at the Vatican, I Media reports that Pope Benedict XVI will soon release his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist. The Holy Father reportedly was reviewing a final draft of the document late in August.

The imminent release of a papal document on the Eucharist would be noteworthy under any circumstances. But in light of the reports that Pope Benedict is preparing another document on the use of the Latin Mass, the document will be even more anxiously awaited. Some Vatican-watchers have surmised that the Pontiff will release his motu proprio on the Latin Mass in conjunction with the apostolic exhortation on the Synod.

The informed Vatican sources cited by I Media say that the papal document will be quite similar to the list of final propositions endorsed by the Synod fathers after concluding their discussions in Rome last October. In a break from ordinary Vatican practice, the Synod released that list of 50 propositions in an "unofficial" Italian-language statement last October 22. The "official" Synod conclusions, in Latin, were given to the Holy Father.

Pope Benedict, respectful of the collegial authority of the Synod, has made relatively few changes to the text approved by the Synod fathers, sources report.

That would not surprise me at all. Not only does B16 wish to emphasize collegiality in his pontificate but if he were not already in substantial agreement with the 50 propositions that the synod wrote, he would not have taken the unusual step of publishing in the first place.

If you’d like to read my own commentary on the 50 propositions,

LOOK HERE.

(They’re in reverse numerical order, in keeping with the way they were blogged. My apologies for failing to do the last five propositions; my memory is that I had to go out of town.)

The next synod of bishops is going to be devoted to the Word of God, and I’ve seen early reports on it. It’s one I hope folks’ll keep in prayer for it could do significant good . . . or not.

EXCERPT:

Meanwhile the ordinary council for the Synod met in Rome earlier in October to prepare a working document for the next full meeting of the synod, scheduled to take place in Rome in October 2008. The subject will be "the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church."

The Synod council is now working on the lineamenta, the first working document for the Synod discussions. Once that is complete– with a final document expected to be approved by the Synod council in January 2007– the lineamenta is circulated among the world’s bishops for their comments. On the basis of their suggestions a new document, the instrumentum laboris, is drawn up to serve as the basis for the Synod discussions.

GET THE STORY.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed!)

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin