The Synodal Church in Mission (Part IV): Towards a Listening and Accompanying Church

During the first two years of the synodal journey, including during our Assembly, listening is the word that best expresses our experience. The listening is given and received. Listening is a deeply human reality, a dynamic of reciprocity in which each makes a contribution to the other's journey while receiving a contribution to one's own. Many of those who participated in the synodal process at the local level, and especially those who have suffered forms of marginalization in the Church or in society were greatly surprised by the invitation to speak and be heard in the Church and by the Church. Being deeply listened to is an experience of affirmation and recognition of dignity, and is a powerful way of engaging people and communities.

Placing Jesus at the centre of our lives requires some degree of self-emptying. In this perspective, providing a listening ear means being willing to ‘decentre’ oneself in order to leave space for the other. We have experienced this in the dynamic of conversations in the Spirit. It is a demanding ascetical exercise that obliges each person to recognize his or her own limitations and the partiality of his or her point of view. Because of this, it opens the possibility of listening to the voice of the Spirit of God that speaks to those beyond the borders of the ecclesial community, and can initiate a journey of change and conversion. Listening has a Christological significance; it means adopting Jesus' attitude toward the people he encountered (Phil. 2:6-11). It also has an ecclesial value, since it is the Church that is listening through the actions of the baptised who act not simply in their own name but in the name of the community. The Church encountered many people and groups along the synodal process asking to be listened to and accompanied. We mention first and foremost young people, whose request for listening and accompaniment resonated strongly in the Synod dedicated to them (2018) and in this Assembly, confirming the need for a preferential option for young people.

The Church needs to listen with special attention and sensitivity to the voices of victims and survivors of sexual, spiritual, economic, institutional, power and conscience abuse by clergy and persons with Church appointments. Authentic listening is a fundamental element of the path to healing, repentance, justice and reconciliation. In different ways, people who feel marginalized or excluded from the Church because of their marriage status, identity or sexuality also ask to be heard and accompanied. There was a deep sense of love, mercy and compassion felt in the Assembly for those who are or feel hurt or neglected by the Church, who want a place to call "home" where they can feel safe, be heard and respected, without fear of feeling judged. Listening is a prerequisite for walking together in search of God's will. The Assembly reiterates that Christians must always show respect for the dignity of every person.

People who suffer the many different forms of poverty, exclusion and marginalization within our unequal societies also turn to the Church in search of love, listening and accompaniment. This listening allows the Church to understand the realities of poverty and marginalisation, and to draw close in friendship to those who suffer. Crucially it also enables the Church to be evangelised by those who suffer. Listening to them allows the Church to understand their point of view and to place itself concretely at their side, and to be evangelised by them. We thank and encourage all those who are engaged in the service of listening to and accompanying those who are in prison. They, in particular, need to experience the merciful love of the Lord and to not feel isolated from the community. On behalf of the Church, they realise the Lord’s words “I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:36).

Many people experience a condition of loneliness that is often close to abandonment. The elderly and the sick are often invisible in society. We encourage parishes and Christian communities to be close to them and listen to them. Works of mercy inspired by the Gospel words “I was sick and you visited me” (Mt 25:39) have a profound significance for the people involved and for fostering the wider bonds of community. Finally, the Church wants to listen to everyone, not just those who can most easily make their voices heard. In some regions, for cultural and social reasons, members of certain groups, such as young people, women, and minorities, may find it more difficult to express themselves freely in public or ecclesial spaces. Living under oppressive and dictatorial regimes also erode this freedom. The same can happen when the exercise of authority within the Christian community becomes oppressive rather than liberating.