Synodality Moves us to Share in others’ Suffering: Pope Francis

He also warned against “the fear of losing our sense of belonging and identity by opening up to other people and differing viewpoints, which stems from failing to recognize diversity as an opportunity rather than a threat.”

Do not enclose yourselves in your own groups, he stressed.

“These are ‘enclosures’ in which we all risk imprisonment,” the pontiff said. “Let us be attentive: Our own group, our own spirituality are realities that help us journey with the people of God, but they are not privileges, for there is the danger of ending up imprisoned in these enclosures.”

He said some of the challenges within ecclesial movements and communities are the temptation to be limited to what the “circle” thinks or “being convinced that what we do is right for everyone, defending, perhaps inadvertently, positions, prerogatives, or the prestige of the ‘group.’”

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Pope Francis also underscored the importance of spiritual conversion in the synodal journey.

“I have often emphasized that the synodal journey requires a spiritual conversion because without an interior transformation, lasting results cannot be achieved,” he said. “My hope is that following this Synod [on Synodality], synodality may endure as a permanent mode of working within the Church, at all levels, permeating the hearts of all, pastors and faithful alike, until it becomes a shared ‘ecclesial style.’”

These goals, however, require a change within each of us, he added.

As part of this spiritual conversion, he also encouraged the meeting participants to foster humility — “the gateway to all virtues.”

“It saddens me when I encounter Christians who boast: because I am a priest from this place, or because they are laypeople from that place, because I am from this institution... This is a bad thing. Humility is the door, the beginning,” he said.