Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod 2018

Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod 2018: Young People, The Faith and Vocational Discernment

XV Ordinary General Assembly of Synod of Bishops

On 6 October 2016, the Holy Father announced the theme of the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment”.            

The work of the Synod began immediately with the drafting of the Preparatory Document (DP), which was published on 13 January 2017, together with a “Letter to young people” by the Holy Father. The DP included a Questionnaire, mainly addressed to Bishops’ Conferences, to the Synods of Eastern Catholic Churches and to other ecclesial bodies, with fifteen questions for everybody and three specific questions for each continent, as well as a request to share three “best practices”.            

From 11 to 15 September 2017, an International Seminar on the Condition of Youth in the World took place, with the participation of many experts and young people, that helped focus on the situation of young people today from a scientific standpoint.            

Besides these initiatives, aimed at involving the entire Church, there have been several opportunities to listen to the voice of young people themselves, so as to make them key players right from the very beginning. First of all, a multilingual Online Questionnaire was prepared and translated by several Bishops’ Conferences, and replies were received from more than one hundred thousand young people. The wealth of material collected is remarkable. Next, the Pre-synodal meeting took place (Rome, 19-24 March 2018), ending on Palm Sunday, when a Final Document was delivered to the Holy Father. About three hundred young people from five continents participated, as well as fifteen thousand more through social media. This event, which was the expression of the Church’s wish to listen to all young people, without exception, garnered a great deal of attention.            

The material collected through these four main sources – together with the “Remarks” that were sent directly to the General Secretariat of the Synod – is certainly quite extensive. With the support of several experts, it was thoroughly analyzed, meticulously summarized and then presented in this “Working Document”, that was approved by the XIV Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, in the presence of the Holy Father.

instrumentum-laboris-for-the-synod-2018-young-people-the-faith.pdf