Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a message (full text) in the Pope’s name to participants in a conference on the role of the bishop in a synodal Church.
Cardinal Parolin wrote that the Supreme Pontiff hopes that the conference will renew the understanding that “authentic synodality by its very nature requires listening and the participation of all the baptized, according to the vocation of each,” but without disregarding “the authority conferred by Christ on the College of Bishops with the Successor of Peter as its head.”