Bishop Mackinlay named to synod’s Final Document Commission

Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst has been elected to the Final Document Commission of the Synod of Bishops, representing Oceania in a group of 14 members responsible for overseeing the drafting of the synod’s concluding document.

His appointment, announced at the Vatican on 8 October, is part of an approach that ensures broad geographical representation in the commission, with each of the synod’s seven continental delegations electing a representative.

The final document is expected to offer proposals on topics such as the role of women in the Church, participation in decision-making, and the decentralisation of authority.

Commission’s role and composition

The Final Document Commission is tasked with supervising the preparation of the document that will summarise the discussions and outcomes of the four-year synodal process. This text will be presented to Pope Francis for consideration and is expected to inform a potential papal document on synodality.

The commission includes a diverse group of members: six cardinals, three bishops, three priests, a religious sister and a lay theologian. Among them is Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, who was selected by the African delegation. Catherine Clifford, a lay theologian from St Paul University in Ottawa, was elected by the North American delegation. Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio from Colombia will represent Central and South America, and Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline from France has been chosen to represent Europe. The Asian delegation chose Fr Clarence Davedassan of Malaysia, and Bishop Mounir Khairallah, a Maronite prelate, will represent the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Middle East.

Automatically appointed to the commission are Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, Msgr Riccardo Battocchio and Jesuit Fr Giacomo Costa, two Italian priests who serve as the synod’s special secretaries, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, relator general of the synod, who will serve as the commission’s president.

Pope Francis also made several appointments to the commission, including Sr Leticia Salazar of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, who has advocated for continued synodal discussions beyond this assembly, Italian theologian Fr Giuseppe Bonfrate, a faculty member at the Gregorian University in Rome, and Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa, Daman and Diu in India.

A collaborative effort

The Synod of Bishops is structured around five thematic modules: Foundations, Relations, Pathways, Places and Conclusion. In the final module, Conclusion, the Final Document Commission will oversee the assembly’s discussions of these themes and guide the process of drafting a document that synthesises the synod’s deliberations. Although the commission will not draft the text itself, it will supervise the theological experts responsible for shaping it.

Bishop Mackinlay also served on the commission that supervised the final document of the synod’s first assembly in 2023, as did the majority of the other members of the 2024 drafting commission, with the exception of Prof Clifford, who replaces Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of Quebec, and Cardinal Rueda, who takes the place of Archbishop of Venezuel José Luis Azuaje Ayala. Among the Pope’s appointments, Sr Leticia and Cardinal Ferrão have replaced Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, an Italian missionary prelate in Mongolia, and Sr Patricia Murray, from Dublin, who served on last year’s commission.

Next steps

The final document, expected to be presented at the conclusion of the synod, will offer proposals based on the synodal discussions and provide a framework for future decision-making within the Church. Pope Francis is likely to issue a teaching document based on its recommendations.