Vatican Set to Release Synod's Next Working Document Later Today: Stay Tuned!

Bishops in the synod hall at Vatican City in 2015.

Later today, at about 8:30 a.m. Eastern U.S. Time, the Vatican will release the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for the next assembly of the Synod which will take place in Rome in October. This latest document comes after nearly two year process that has involved a local listening phase in dioceses worldwide and then continental assemblies. Throughout this process, LGBTQ+ inclusion has been a prominent theme lifted up by the people of God from around the globe and recognized by many church leaders, including the Vatican.

Bondings 2.0 will cover the document’s release and its contents relevant to Catholic LGBTQ+ issues in a post later today, so please check back later today for our coverage, as well as New Ways Ministry’s statement.

In the meantime, if you have not already done so, consider reading New Ways Ministry’s report submitted to the Vatican that is based on spiritual conversations held with nearly 1,000 LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies in 2022. You can find all of New Ways Ministry’s Synod resources, including recordings of the address by Sr. Nathalie Becquart, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s synod office, to LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies by clicking here. Other webinars on synod topics can also be found through the previous link.

For Bondings 2.0’s full coverage of the Synod on Synodality as it has progressed since beginning in 2021, click here.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, June 20, 2023