Big dates for the pope and the Church in 2023

Pope Francis upon his arrival at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest, Hungary, on September 12, 2021. (Photo by LUCA ZENNARO/ EPA/ MAXPPP)

The tenth anniversary of Pope Francis' pontificate, a long-awaited papal visit to Africa, the Synod assembly on the future of the Church, continuation of the fight against abuse, and World Youth Day (WYD).

These are some of the more poignant events that are fixed in the Catholic Church's agenda for 2023, a year that has begun with the death and funeral of Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI.

January-February: The pope's trip to DR-Congo and South Sudan

Pope Francis is scheduled to make his 40th apostolic journey abroad January 31 to February 5. The trip is to take him to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan^[1]. In the DRC, a country of 105 million people, 95.8% of whom are Christians, Francis will meet with current president, Felix Tshisekedi, as well as with civil and political authorities in the country, which has been experiencing episodes of violence for several weeks.

Francis will then head to the "world's youngest country", South Sudan, on February 3. The country was born of a 2018 split of Sudan into two entities, one in the north and the other in the south. Since then, South Sudan has been at the heart of an internal conflict between two clans, that of President Salva Kiir and that of Vice President Riek Machar, both of whom are Christians.

February: Synodal Assembly for Europe in Prague

This is a new step in the Synod on the future of the Church launched by the pope in October 2021. Following the national phases of the process and the drafting of a first working document unveiled by the Vatican at the end of October 2022, the Continental Synodal Assembly for Europe will meet from February 5-12 in Prague (Czech Republic).

Governance, concern for the marginalized, the place of women, the fight against abuses, etc. Around these and other focal points, the event should gather delegates from the national episcopal conference throughout Europe, as well as representatives of movements and associations of the laity, and of other denominations. The bishops will produce a final text that will be presented in Rome, and which will contribute to the drafting of a second working instrument, to be published before June 2023.

March: the opening of the fifth session of Germany's "Synodal Path"

This is the final session of a process that has been punctuated by disagreements with the Vatican on sensitive issues such as the ordination of women, the blessing of same-sex couples, and reform of the Church's teaching on sexual morality. This final gathering for Germany's Synodale Weg – or Synodal Path – is to be held from March 9-11.

Initiated by the bishops in 2019 in the wake of a report on sexual violence in the German Church, this reform process aims to recreate a bond of trust with believers, around four major themes: the exercise of power, the life of priests, human sexuality, and the role of women in ministries.

While some feared a schism scenario, given the scale of the disputes, the German bishops and Vatican officials took time to discuss their positions in mid-November 2022 in Rome. A de-escalation was initiated, without the Germans having to accept the moratorium on their Synodal Path that Vatican officials proposed.

March: Pope Francis marks 10th anniversary of his papal election

While many believed that his pontificate would be rather short, the 86-year-old former archbishop of Buenos Aires will enter the eleventh year of his pontificate on March 13. Over the past ten years the Jesuit pope has put forth an agenda to deal with issues dear to his heart: concern for "integral ecology", attention towards "the peripheries" (geographical or existential, such as the poor, migrants or indigenous people), and inter-religious dialogue, among others.

Despite his health problems – he is suffering from knee pain, which forced him to postpone several trips in 2022 – the Successor of Peter is keeping up a high work pace, with a number of projects that will continue to dominate 2023. These include his ongoing reform of the Roman Curia, the Synod on the future of the Church, mediation for peace in Ukraine, and so on.

April: French bishops will hold another important assembly in Lourdes

When the French Bishops' Conference (CEF) held its most recent plenary meeting last November in Lourdes the climate was extremely tense due to sex abuse revelations implicating a number of retired bishops, including Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the former archbishop of Bordeaux.

When the CEF holds its next plenary in the Marian city this spring for a new plenary assembly the bishops will be reviewing the progress made by the nine working groups on abuse they launched in 2021. Composed of lay people, deacons, priests, bishops and abuse victims, they aimed to deepen the reflection on the implementation of the recommendations that the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) made in its devastating report: "sharing good practices", "confession and spiritual accompaniment", "accompaniment of priests who have been implicated", etc.

The Conference of Men and Women Religious of France (CORREF) is also expected to hold its next general assembly in mid-April. Their members will also be reviewing the work carried out up to now by reflection groups engaged, since November 2021, in the fight against Church-related abuse.

August: World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon

After being pushed back one year due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 37th World Youth Day^[2] (WYD) will be held in Lisbon (Portugal) from August 1-6, with the theme "Mary arose and went with haste" (Luke 1, 39).

The event, which traditionally gathers hundreds of thousands of young people around the pope every three years - is highly anticipated.

"Dear young people, I invite you to register for this encounter in which, after a long period of distancing, we will rediscover the joy of the fraternal embrace between peoples and between generations, which we need so much!" the pope said at the end of October 2022 when he symbolically registered online for the event.

October: the first of two Synod of Bishops' assemblies at the Vatican

With this new Roman phase, this gathering begins the final stretch of the Synod on the future of the Church, launched in 2021 by the pope. A priori in the presence of Catholics from other states of life, the bishops will meet in the Vatican in October 2023 to work on the second working document (instrumentum laboris), which will have been drafted a few months earlier from the final documents sent by the various continental assemblies.

In mid-October 2022, the Vatican announced that a second session with the bishops will then be held in October 2024, for "a prolonged discernment".

References

1. ^{^} Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan (bit.ly)
2. ^{^} 37th World Youth Day (bit.ly)