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VATICAN CITY // The General Secretariat of the Synod has penned a letter to Pope Leo XIV signaling that, as the implementations of the Synod’s Final Document are underway, the Synod’s leadership now stands ready to follow the direction he wants to take the Synod next.
Beginning the May 12 letter, Secretariat Cardinal Mario Grech expressed gratitude to God for Pope Leo’s election and to the new pontiff “our joy at walking together, supporting Your service to the communion among all the Churches.”
Cardinal Grech and undersecretaries Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, O.S.A., and Sister Nathalie Becquart, X.M.C.J., signed the letter. They described the Synod, convened by Pope Francis and involving all the faithful, as “an ecclesial journey led by the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen Lord, who helps us grow as a missionary Church, constantly undergoing conversion through attentive listening to the Gospel.”
The signatories noted that the synodal process, which began in 2021, “has now completed the phase of discernment” following Pope Francis’ approval of the 2024 Final Document. Reflecting on its implementation, they quoted the document’s Accompanying Note authored by Pope Francis, who wrote that the document’s proposals can be implemented according to local churches’ circumstances and contexts. There are also Synod study groups that will send proposals to Pope Leo, the signatories noted.
“Now that the journey continues under Your Holiness’s guidance,” they concluded, “we look with confidence to the directions You will indicate, to help the Church grow as a community attentive to listening, close to each person, capable of authentic and welcoming relationships — a home and family of God open to all: a missionary synodal Church. The General Secretariat of the Synod remains fully available to offer its service in a spirit of collaboration and obedience.”
According to a May 9 article from Alfa y Omega, undersecretary Bishop Marín is a longtime friend of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost. Both the pontiff and Bishop Marín are Augustinians, and met personally when the former was prior general of the order, Bishop Marín told the outlet, although he did not specify what year. He also said that they lived together for five years and when then-Bishop Prevost was ministering in Chiclayo, he called then-Father Marín to the diocese several times to help with clergy formation. They also regularly saw one another in Rome after then-Cardinal Prevost was appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023 in Rome, Bishop Marín said.
The bishop described Pope Leo as highly capable, simple, welcoming, and retaining “a deep understanding of the Church and its universality, of the variety of cultures and sensibilities. He also said the pope is one inclined to listen and dialogue, someone “of integration, never confrontation,” and “a person of our time, who brings to today’s world the insights and ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council.”
Speaking on the Holy Father’s approach to synodality, the bishop described him as having “always been a profoundly synodal man,” especially because evangelism, synodality, and listening are integral to Augustinian training. Giving an example of how he lived this out, as bishop of Chiclayo when the Synod first began, then-Bishop Prevost directed Bishop Marín to hold many meetings with clergy.
He also described how then-Cardinal Prevost engaged in the sessions of the Synod’s General Assembly, explaining that he gave “very sensible interventions, clearly and in a guiding manner, rooted in love for the Church and serenity, always seeking communion.”
The pope also holds “very clear ideas in line with the ecclesiology of Vatican II’s Lumen gentium,” and his view of synodality is neither “sociological or political, but rather profoundly ecclesial,” Bishop Marín said.
He added, “We must overcome the pyramidal, clericalist, and power-driven Church; also the other extreme of the ‘assembly’ Church, where everything is the same and charisms and vocations are diluted.”
He said that the Synod leaders will talk with Pope Leo and “see if any adjustments need to be made to the program established by Francis regarding the accompaniment process in the implementation phase of the Synod, which was planned to conclude with an Ecclesial Assembly in 2028.”