Cardinal Zuppi calls synodality essential to proclaiming the Gospel

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Bologna, placed synodality at the center of the proclamation of the Gospel in a speech to the conference's permanent council on September 21, 2026. Walking together, which he described as "listening to one another, sharing responsibilities and seeking together how to serve our Churches," is not a matter of internal organization but an essential part of the Christian proclamation, he said.

"The communion we live makes the word we address to others credible, it generates and regenerates our decisive unity," Zuppi said. Communion among the faithful is not an organizational measure but a vital element of the Church's mission, he said. Unity, he added, should not be understood as a shield against the world but as a gift that opens the way toward others.

The speech was divided into six sections on different dimensions of synodality and its relevance today: "A proclamation that is never disembodied," "The witness of Francis of Assisi," "The relevance of the 'spirit of Assisi,'" "The Rome Conference, fifty years later," "The school, the workshop of our common future" and "The end of life: no one is left alone!"

Zuppi said the faithful need greater closeness and greater willingness to listen to one another.