We are Church 100 days after the final document of the World Synod in Rome (= 3 February 2025)
Press release, Munich, 23 January 2025
100 days after the final document of the second plenary assembly of the World Synod has been approved in Rome on 26 October 2024 by a large majority of all participants and immediately put into effect by Pope Francis, the reform movement We Are Church is once again calling for the rapid implementation of urgently needed reforms in the local churches. Time is running out! The success of the World Synod now depends on the local churches!
If the promising momentum of the two synods in Rome in 2023 and 2024 is not to fizzle out, concrete reform steps must now be taken at the local church level very soon. For in section 94 of the final document of the World Synod, it explicitly states: ‘Without concrete short-term changes, the vision of a synodal church will lack credibility, and this will alienate those members of the people of God who have drawn strength and hope from the synodal path. The local churches must find ways to implement these changes.’ On 25 November 2024, Pope Francis explicitly confirmed the final document of the World Synod again in a ‘Nota’ as part of the ordinary teaching authority.
The How: Discussing and Implementing Reforms
The World Synod first defined the framework for how a synodal church should be designed in order to meet the goal of ‘community, participation and mission’ (the title of the synod). With this synod, Pope Francis has made a significant contribution to church history, one that builds on the baptismal dignity of all church members.
From now on, the entire church community is to be involved in all essential decisions at the respective levels, and not only in an advisory capacity.
For the bishops, transparency and accountability apply not only to the Pope, but to all believers.
For Germany, the decisions of the World Synod provide a strong tailwind with regard to the synodal committee, because the Pope has issued a doctrinal mandate to establish committees at all levels of the Church for participation and co-decision. This means more than just being heard.
The four of the 27 German bishops (Woelki, Voderholzer, Oster, Hanke) have thus been deprived of the basis for their refusal of the synodal committee and its financing.
The what: contextually developing and implementing specific reforms
The World Synod addressed many reform issues, i.e. what needs to be reformed, but important issues were deferred, not yet specifically regulated or left open. This has bitterly disappointed many people around the world who had already expected concrete decisions.
What did not happen at the World Synod must now be tackled all the more urgently in Germany in synodal cooperation between bishops and ‘lay people’ without delay and with determination.
What does not require the approval of Rome can and should be implemented by the bishops immediately in their dioceses. Time is of the essence.
But canon law will also have to change. This has already been addressed in the final document.
With regard to the ten working groups into which the Pope has outsourced topics from the World Synod, We Are Church calls for their results to be published transparently before the end of 2025 and for their implementation to be carried out in a synodal manner, i.e. with the involvement of the local churches.
Transparency and comparability of implementation
We Are Church considers it imperative that church leaders immediately and clearly inform the church base about the results of the World Synod and the further steps towards reform at the local level.
Successful implementations of church action (‘best practices’) should be published as examples for other dioceses. In particular, the elected committees, such as priests and diocesan councils, should contribute to this. The pressure of expectation for concrete results is rightly high. Whether the church will regain public reputation depends on concrete action.
The research on the internet and in the German dioceses, carried out by Wir sind Kirche together with the parish initiative, has so far only partially yielded further results. The research covered information, actions, events, (new) committees and statements by the local bishops after the end of the World Synod.
Link to the updated evaluation
Reforms can only succeed together
The German bishops and committees should join forces with other local churches in Europe if they want to be heard in the Vatican.
Isolated proposals from Germany have so far not been taken into account in Rome. Only together can they succeed in countering the massive loss of credibility caused by abuse, cover-ups and the backlog of reforms. The further actions of the archbishops and bishops in Germany are to be measured by the participation of the entire church people as well as by the transparency and accountability of the bishops.
Press contact:
Paul-G. Ulbrich (We Are Church / Parish Initiative)
Tel. 0157-8845561, E-Mail:
Konrad Mundo (We Are Church Federal Team)
Tel. 030-5433982, E-Mail:
Christian Weisner (We Are Church team)
Tel. 0172-5185082, E-Mail:
More on synodality: www.wir-sind-kirche.de/synodalitaet