As Pope Francis’s ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality wraps up its second phase and prepares for the first of two large Rome-based gatherings, organizers have said a prominent theme in the process has been embracing the church’s diversity.
Speaking to members of the press on April 21, Archbishop Timothy John Costelloe of Perth, president of the Australian bishops’ conference, said, “One of the most important things that we are experiencing on the journey, and that we experienced very powerfully during these continental assemblies, is that there is in fact more than one way of being the Church.”
“I think that’s a very important thing and something that’s emerging as a significant feature of this synodal journey,” he said.
As the synod process goes on, “we’re going into a deeper experience of synodality and in doing that, we’re recognizing and celebrating this reality of great diversity,” he said.
Diversity has always been a part of the Church, but Costelloe voiced his conviction that it is something “we need to acknowledge and more and more to celebrate and to be grateful to God for.”
“I would say that what is happening, both in the ideal world, but also in reality, is that we’re beginning to experience a profound unity, which is not only not grounded in uniformity,” he said, saying, “we all know, unity and uniformity are not the same thing.”