• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Chicago-born Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, speaks at a press briefing on the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican Oct. 23, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Synod deliberates on doctrinal authority of bishops’ conferences

October 23, 2024
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: News, Synodality, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Recognizing the doctrinal authority of bishops’ conferences does not mean allowing them to reject the teaching authority of the pope, but rather to apply church teaching to their unique context, said the head of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops.

“Each episcopal conference needs to have a certain authority in terms of saying, ‘How are we going to understand this (doctrine) in the concrete reality in which we are living?'” Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, said during an Oct. 23 briefing on the Synod of Bishops.

The authority of national bishops’ conferences has been a central topic in synod discussions on the decentralization of decision-making in the church.

Father Gilles Routhier, a theological expert at the synod from the Archdiocese of Quebec, speaks at a news conference on the Synod at the Vatican Oct. 23, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The working document for the synod stated that bishops’ conferences had not yet realized the full capacities envisioned for them by the Second Vatican Council, including “genuine doctrinal authority.”

Cardinal Prevost said synod members noticed that the Spanish and Italian translations of the working document mention developing “some kind of doctrinal authority” for bishops’ conferences rather than a more absolute form of doctrinal authority as could be insinuated from the English version, creating confusion among English-speaking synod discussion groups.

The cardinal said decentralization and allowing local churches to have a greater role in decision-making, recurring themes of the synod, would not negate church teaching on the primacy of the pope.

“The whole understanding of synodality is not that all of a sudden there is going to be a fully democratic, assembly-style way of exercising authority in the church,” he said. “The primacy of Peter and of the successors of Peter, the bishop of Rome, of the pope, is something which enables the church to continue to live communion in a very concrete way.”

“Synodality can have a great impact on how we are living in the church, but it certainly takes nothing away from what we would call the primacy” of the pope, said the cardinal.

Father Gilles Routhier, a theological expert at the synod from Canada, addressed concerns that giving bishops’ conferences more doctrinal authority could lead to “disorder” due to their proposing potentially conflicting dogmas. He clarified that bishops’ conferences cannot possess “an absolute authority to propose new dogmas” but must develop “an authority that understands limits” and remains in communion with the universal church.

“We can be afraid to entrust a doctrinal authority to episcopal conferences insofar as we fear a fragmentation of the church,” he said. However, he added that the aim of the synod is to enable bishops’ conferences to teach doctrine “so that this common faith does not simply remain at the abstract level, but responds to the questions of its people in its territories when they encounter contemporary challenges.”

Following the synod, the church must better delineate the competencies of bishops’ conferences to support “an authentic teaching of the bishops that can meet the concerns, questions and challenges” of the faithful, Father Routhier said.

Read More Synodality

Synod office provides guidelines to help local churches, bishops implement synodality

With pope’s support, Vatican to publish document on synod’s final phase

Synods and synodality: Pope Francis’ method, vision for church

Pope approves next phase of synod, setting path to 2028 assembly

Ahead of U.S. Franciscans’ synod, friars say ‘communal discernment’ long-held tradition for order

India’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church begins synod amid liturgy row

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Justin McLellan

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

  • Augustinian prior opens up about papal vacation, first encyclical, appointments and tennis

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause
  • Pope: Vatican still ready to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en