Synod to discuss youth in 2018

The Holy Father, after the customary due consultation with Episcopal Conferences, the sui iuris Oriental Catholic Churches and the Union of Superiors General, and having heard the suggestions offered by the Fathers of the last Synodal Assembly and the opinion offered by the XIV Ordinary Council, has decided that in October 2018 the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be held, focusing on the theme: Youth, faith and vocational discernment.

This theme, an expression of the pastoral concern of the Church for youth, is in accordance with the deliberations from the recent Synodal Assembly on the family and following the teachings outlined in the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.  The intent of this next Synodal assembly is to accompany the journey of young people toward maturity so that, through a process of discernment, they may discover their life work and joyfully bring it to fruition by opening possibilities for encounters with God and with others, therefore actively participating in the building up of the Church and of society.