Message of the Holy Father for Lent 2023:
Lenten Penance and the Synodal Journey

Lifting the Exemption: The diocese did not require us to attend Church during the pandemic as an extraordinary measure and for our safety and wellbeing. This exemption will no longer apply.

The Australian synthesis draws from the local diocesan consultations that took places between October 2021 and March 2022, after which diocesan reports were prepared. Countries around the world are producing national syntheses that will assist the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in its ongoing work to prepare the international gathering in Rome in October 2023.

During the second general assembly, more than 35 motions were put to a consultative and a deliberative vote. Those motions that received a qualified majority in the deliberative vote were passed by the Plenary Council. They were confirmed as the decrees of the Plenary Council.