Pope Francis surprised the Church by announcing that the Synod of Bishops postponed due to the pandemic will be preceded by a synodal process that includes "listening to all of the baptized" in every local diocese before the bishops gather again in 2023. 

In comments made to Vatican Media, Cardinal Mario Grech, head of the Vatican's office of the Synod of Bishops, said the change "from an event into a process" was chosen because "the time was ripe for a wider participation of the people of God in a decision-making process that affects the whole church and everyone in the church.

"The Second Vatican Council teaches that the people of God participate in the prophetic office of Christ," says Cardinal Grech. "Therefore, we must listen to the people of God, and this means going out to the local churches." 

Each diocese undertakes consultation meetings with local Catholics and hosts its own "pre-synodal" gathering to produce a summary to submit to the national bishops' conference.

In "a period of discernment," the national conference reviews the texts received from the local dioceses and composes its own document to submit to the Vatican's office for the Synod of Bishops. Vatican officials will create a first draft of the synod's instrumentum laboris, or working document, from the submitted texts by September 2022.