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Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church
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Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops is an influential, global, consultative and advisory body to the pope. It is one of the mechanisms through which Catholic bishops—the most senior ordained members of the Church—communally render "cooperative assistance" to the pontiff in fulfilling his office and leading the church. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as:
a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.
The papal Synod of Bishops is permanent, even when not in session. Periodically, it holds assemblies, which are either general, if called to consider matters directly concerning the universal Church, or special, if called for problems of a particular geographical area. The general assemblies are either ordinary (held at fixed intervals) or extraordinary (held to treat of some urgent matter).
The papal Synod of Bishops also has a permanent secretariat headquartered in Rome but not part of the Roman Curia. Pope Francis greatly increased both the authority and influence of the Synod in September 2018.
In addition, each 'Eastern Catholic' patriarchal church and each major archiepiscopal church has its own synod of bishops. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches makes mention 115 times of the "synod of bishops" in this sense and only once (in canon 46) mentions the Synod of Bishops that the pope convokes.
Unlike the (latin or papal) Synod of Bishops, which normally assists the pope only by offering advice, these Eastern Church synods of bishops are competent, and exclusively so, to make laws for the entire sui iuris (autonomous) church that each governs. In the latin tradition and law, on the other hand, the Synod is convened by the Pope and is primarily a method of delivering assistance to him in his supreme office, rather than a governing body in itself, or from which the principal church leader derives authority.
These synods of bishops are not what in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches are called Holy Synods. The latter concept corresponds instead to that of the standing synod of these Eastern Catholic synods of bishops, which consists of the patriarch or major archbishop and four bishops appointed for a five-year term. Of the four, three are elected by the church's synod of bishops and one is appointed by the patriarch or major archbishop, while another four are designated in the same way to replace any member who is impeded. A meeting of a whole synod of bishops is called when a decision is required on a question that only the synod of bishops is authorized to decide, or when the patriarch or major archbishop, with the agreement of the standing synod, judges it to be necessary, or when at least one third of the bishops request that it be held to consider some specific matter. In addition, the individual canon law of some patriarchal and major archiepiscopal churches requires that the synod of bishops be convoked at predetermined intervals.
In 1959, three years before the Second Vatican Council began, Cardinal Silvio Oddi proposed a permanent consultative body of bishops drawn from many parts of the world to discuss major concerns of the Church, and Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink proposed a permanent council of specialized bishops to legislate for the Church in union with the Pope and the cardinals.
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Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops is an influential, global, consultative and advisory body to the pope. It is one of the mechanisms through which Catholic bishops—the most senior ordained members of the Church—communally render "cooperative assistance" to the pontiff in fulfilling his office and leading the church. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as:
a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.
The papal Synod of Bishops is permanent, even when not in session. Periodically, it holds assemblies, which are either general, if called to consider matters directly concerning the universal Church, or special, if called for problems of a particular geographical area. The general assemblies are either ordinary (held at fixed intervals) or extraordinary (held to treat of some urgent matter).
The papal Synod of Bishops also has a permanent secretariat headquartered in Rome but not part of the Roman Curia. Pope Francis greatly increased both the authority and influence of the Synod in September 2018.
In addition, each 'Eastern Catholic' patriarchal church and each major archiepiscopal church has its own synod of bishops. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches makes mention 115 times of the "synod of bishops" in this sense and only once (in canon 46) mentions the Synod of Bishops that the pope convokes.
Unlike the (latin or papal) Synod of Bishops, which normally assists the pope only by offering advice, these Eastern Church synods of bishops are competent, and exclusively so, to make laws for the entire sui iuris (autonomous) church that each governs. In the latin tradition and law, on the other hand, the Synod is convened by the Pope and is primarily a method of delivering assistance to him in his supreme office, rather than a governing body in itself, or from which the principal church leader derives authority.
These synods of bishops are not what in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches are called Holy Synods. The latter concept corresponds instead to that of the standing synod of these Eastern Catholic synods of bishops, which consists of the patriarch or major archbishop and four bishops appointed for a five-year term. Of the four, three are elected by the church's synod of bishops and one is appointed by the patriarch or major archbishop, while another four are designated in the same way to replace any member who is impeded. A meeting of a whole synod of bishops is called when a decision is required on a question that only the synod of bishops is authorized to decide, or when the patriarch or major archbishop, with the agreement of the standing synod, judges it to be necessary, or when at least one third of the bishops request that it be held to consider some specific matter. In addition, the individual canon law of some patriarchal and major archiepiscopal churches requires that the synod of bishops be convoked at predetermined intervals.
In 1959, three years before the Second Vatican Council began, Cardinal Silvio Oddi proposed a permanent consultative body of bishops drawn from many parts of the world to discuss major concerns of the Church, and Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink proposed a permanent council of specialized bishops to legislate for the Church in union with the Pope and the cardinals.