Indian dioceses start preparations for 2023 Rome synod

“To transform the Church to a Synodal Church, we have to walk together in the same path," said Cardinal Gracias

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Catholic Church in India, launched on Sunday, October 17, the diocesan phase of the Synod 2021-2023.

The cardinal, who is archbishop of Bombay and one of the top consulters of Pope Francis, appealed to Catholics in India to transform the local Church to a Synodal Church.

“To transform the Church to a Synodal Church, we have to walk together in the same path including everybody,” said Cardinal Gracias.



“We have to encounter Jesus through prayer and adoration and to hear what the Spirit wants to say to the Church,” added the cardinal.

“Church should listen to all than hearing,” he said during Mass to officially start the synodal process at Mumbai’s Holy Name Cathedral.

The cardinal quoted Pope Francis and reiterated that the synod is a process of spiritual and ecclesial discernment that unfolds in adoration, prayer and in dialogue with the Word of God.

He announced the release of a handbook for the synod titled “For a Synodal Church,” which was published by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

Cardinal Gracias described the handbook as a useful tool for those involved in the two-year “Synodal Journey,” which will unfold in three phases of consultations — at the diocesan, the continental, and the universal levels, culminating in October 2023, in Rome.

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