Thanks to Elise Ann Allen and the staff at Crux, we now know more precisely what Pope Leo XIV thinks about synodality. In a nutshell, he is not just generally or vaguely supportive of Pope Francis’ reforming initiative to make the church more missionary and participatory; he is convinced of its fundamental importance.
If that does not sound particularly newsworthy, you haven’t been paying close attention to the analyses of Leo’s words and actions on synodality since his election in May. The general consensus is that Leo has given clear signs of his intention to continue Pope Francis’ vision for the church, including synodality, but we do not yet know the degree of his enthusiasm nor what he plans to do concretely to implement it.
But Catholic commentators, including from this magazine, have filled this months-long void of uncertainty with speculation and arguments for why Leo should or should not continue implementing a synodal culture in the vein of Francis.
All of the analysis has been predictable. Those generally inspired by Francis’ papacy and convinced that synodality is an authentic manifestation of the theology of the Second Vatican Council argue that with the promulgation of “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” which is the final document of the Synod on Synodality, the toothpaste is out of the tube, so to speak, and in that sense synodality could not be totally undone by Leo even if he wanted to do that. Those generally uninspired or even perturbed by Francis’ papacy tend to view this expression of synodality as something novel, theologically problematic, confusing or even dangerous to the church. It is time, they argue, to move on from Francis’ papacy and get back to “normal.”
‘A willingess to understand’
So, what does Pope Leo think? In his conversation with Ms. Allen, we hear for the first time a substantial, albeit colloquial, assessment of synodality from his perspective. Every English speaker interested in synodality, whether inspired or threatened by it, should watch the excerpt. He begins:
I think that synodality is an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand. Speaking of the Church now, this means each and every member of the church has a voice and a role to play through prayer, reflection…through a process…of dialogue and respect of one another. To bring people together and to understand that relationship, that interaction, that creating opportunities of encounter, is an important dimension of how we live our life as church.
This is no groundbreaking exegesis, but it captures the essence of synodality. He then acknowledged that some Catholics have difficulty with it:
Some people have felt threatened by that. Sometimes bishops or priests might feel, “synodality is going to take away my authority.”That’s not what synodality is about, and maybe your idea of what your authority is, is somewhat out of focus, mistaken. I think that synodality is a way of describing how we can come together and be a community and seek communion as a church, so that it’s a church whose primary focus is not on an institutional hierarchy, but rather on a sense of we together, our church; each person with his or her own vocation, priests, or laity, or bishops, missionaries, families.
This acknowledgment and response to people with authority who feel threatened by synodality is telling. The pope is not oblivious to the fact that some Catholics, including bishops and cardinals, remain unconvinced. His comment echoes an intervention Pope Francis spontaneously made at the first session of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 24, 2023. A debate had emerged about the nature of the synod itself because, for the first time in modern history, lay people and women religious were full voting members. At a certain point, Francis felt compelled to intervene and delivered a scathing critique of clericalism, reminding the assembly that bishops come from “the holy, faithful people of God”; they aren’t above it or separate from it.
One year later, in his address to open the second session of the Synod, Francis provided some theological grounding for his critique, insisting that the composition of the synod, with voting lay members together with bishops, “is more than a contingent fact.” He continued:
It expresses a way of exercising episcopal ministry which is consistent with the living Tradition of the Churches and with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: never should a Bishop, or any other Christian, think of himself “without others.” Just as nobody is saved alone, the proclamation of salvation requires everyone, and demands that everyone be heard. The presence…of non-episcopal members does not diminish the “episcopal” character of the Assembly. Still less does it place some limit on or derogate from the authority of individual Bishops or of the episcopal College…. Rather, it indicates the form the exercise of episcopal authority is called to have in a Church which is aware of being constitutively relational and thus synodal.
I do not know if Cardinal Robert Prevost, then the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, consulted with Pope Francis about these comments on episcopal authority. But as Pope Leo, he just said something very similar, and it is worth grappling with: Some Catholics, including bishops and priests, are threatened by synodality because they do not understand either synodality or its relationship to their own authority.
I admit there is a steep learning curve here for all Catholics. Synodality is something that has to be personally experienced and—according to those who have taken part in the process—it requires a lot of deep spiritual work to truly become “open,” as Leo says. On top of that, it has been difficult for the synod organizers to settle on a precise definition of synodality for a church encompassing 1.4 billion different people in many cultures around the world. But the nearly 400 delegates at the Synod on Synodality in October 2023 and 2024 did eventually define it in a rather accessible way: “Synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the church to be more participatory and missionary so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ” (final document, no. 28)
So it is also worth asking: At what point does a genuine lack of understanding of synodality become a willful misunderstanding, or even an implicit rejection of it? Ironically, by its definition, a truly synodal church must include and give a voice to these people as well. In any case, Leo is clearly not oblivious to those who are threatened by synodality, or he would not have felt the need to challenge them on it.
Elsewhere in the interview with Crux, Leo describes being a synodal community like this: “If we listen to the Gospel, and if we reflect upon it together, and if we strive to walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today, there is a lot to be gained for us there.” He acknowledges that after Vatican II, this way of living as a faith community took root especially in Latin America, but today it can contribute to the universal synodal experience.
This should not be overlooked in any assessment of Leo’s understanding of synodality. Leo spent two decades ministering in Peru. Pope Francis’ Latin American perspective was the source of his ecclesial vision for the universal church, a vision that was repeatedly criticized throughout his pontificate from parts of the English-speaking world and the global north. That Pope Leo is a child of both Anglo and Latino cultures, of the global north and the global south, is perhaps providential: Could this be a moment for deeper cultural encounter as a way for all of us to become less suspicious and more synodal?
Synodality is not just for the church; it is for the world
It is worth mentioning that Leo puts his understanding of synodality in the context of the church’s mission to the world. After speaking in depth about the problem of polarization, he says of synodality: “I think this is sort of an antidote. I think this is a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges that we have in the world today.” This is totally consistent with Pope Francis’ vision for synodality. Francis was constantly stressing the evangelizing mission of the church. If we, as a diverse community, could learn to listen to each other, disagree passionately, make hard decisions together and still remain in communion as brothers and sisters, that would be a most powerful witness to a world that is dangerously polarized, suspicious of difference and even hateful.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that Leo understands synodality in exactly the same way Francis did. But after this interview, we can say it is very close. Francis tried to create space for a culture of synodality to develop organically, squarely grounded in the rich theology of Vatican II. He did not mandate answers to the specific questions that would inevitably emerge in a healthy synodal culture. Leo seems to appreciate and believe in that culture in which we all “walk forward together, listening to one another, trying to discover what God is saying to us today.” It will fall to him to guide the church in making decisions about concrete issues surfaced by the synod; things like revising the criteria for selecting candidates for bishops, and introducing various structures and processes into canon law “from a synodal perspective.” The difficult work is still ahead.
Perhaps the passages of the interview that best reveal Leo’s understanding of synodality are the sections in which he and Ms. Allen talked about completely different topics. When asked about how he will approach the role of women in the church and the L.G.B.T.Q. community, the first words out of his mouth were, “In a synodal way.” Then they turned to the highly contentious issue of access to the traditional Latin Mass, which was restricted by Pope Francis in 2021. Proponents of the Mass have been fervently petitioning Leo on several fronts to overturn those restrictions. Leo admitted that the issue has become “polarized,” is “very complicated,” and he’s not sure what he’ll do. He said he will soon have an opportunity to meet with advocates of the Mass and suggested, “maybe with synodality, we have to sit down and talk.”
Synodality is not simply one more issue to discuss and debate. It has always been encouraged by those who understand it best as a framework for approaching all of the other issues facing the church and the world. Pope Leo XIV is already ministering from this framework. Welcome to the new normal.
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