AFRICA/IVORY COAST - Conclusion of the national consultations for the Synod on synodality wanted by Pope Francis

Saturday, 23 July 2022 synod of bishops synodality local churches laity

COTE D'IVOIRE

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Abidjan (Agenzia Fides) - Last May the national phase of consultations on the Synod of "walking together" ended in the Church of Ivory Coast, the process of which was initiated by Pope Francis at the universal Church level.
"At the end of the works of national consultations on the Synod of "walking together", the Family of God Church in Ivory Coast rejoices at this synodal experience initiated by Pope Francis - reads the summary of the national synthesis of diocesan consultations presented last Thursday to the faithful from the Ivoran episcopate -. In this dynamic, some points deserve to be the object of discernment".
The synodal process carried out at the invitation of Pope Francis mobilized for its first phase, consultations at the level of the dioceses with movements, religious congregations, institutions and parishes. They were asked to answer a questionnaire. The works therefore consisted in knowing the types of collaboration that exist in the country between bishops, between bishops and priests, between priests, between clerics and laity and finally between the laity themselves.
In general it emerged that the concept of "walking together", supporting each other and making communion is very present in the culture of the four ecclesiastical provinces of the Country. One of the points strongly debated during these consultations was pastoral co-responsibility which implies an indispensable participation of the laity in the mission of the Church.
The national synthesis on synodality underlines that the articulation of the structures that make up the Ivorian Catholic Church guarantees in most cases a participatory administration model even if a lot of work still needs to be done in some contexts to encourage the participation of the laity.
Among the themes, object of discernment, the Catholic Bishops of Ivory Coast propose: ethnocentrism, tribalism and racism; the "gender issue"; marriage between man and woman; the relations of clerics with the laity in their participation in ecclesial life; evangelization and integral human development; the fight against poverty, illegal immigration and the plundering of raw materials by other countries. (SS/EG) (Agenzia Fides, 23/7/2022)