Bogota: In a groundbreaking initiative to deepen understanding and action within the Church, the Council of Catholic Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM) has announced the launch of a global digital formation programme dedicated to the study and implementation of the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality. The programme, beginning October 20, 2025, marks a significant step toward fostering global participation and collaboration in the ongoing synodal journey of the Church.
The initiative, developed under CELAM’s Pan-American Synodal Ecosystem “Together,” introduces a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) designed to guide clergy, religious, and laity through the core themes of the Synod on Synodality’s Final Document. This document, the fruit of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2021–2024), calls on the Church to live out synodality as a way of being emphasizing communion, participation, and mission.
According to CELAM’s statement, the “Together” platform will provide free, multilingual access to high-quality formation content for participants across continents. The initiative aims to equip Church members to translate discernment into concrete pastoral action, ensuring that the spirit of the Synod becomes a lived reality in parishes, dioceses, and communities worldwide.
CELAM emphasized that the Synod has now entered its third phase reception where listening, discernment, and dialogue must now be transformed into real, practical change. “The Church is called to reimagine relationships, structures, and pastoral priorities,” the organization stated, “in light of what has been discerned together.”
The online course will bring together a distinguished panel of international experts theologians, canon lawyers, pastoral leaders, and Synod participants offering both academic and spiritual perspectives. Many of them were directly involved in the global synodal process or in the Synod of the Church in Italy, ensuring a balance between theological depth and pastoral practicality.
The formation project is the result of a rich collaboration between several ecclesial and academic institutions. Alongside CELAM’s theological center CEBITEPAL, key partners include:
• The Latin American Confederation of Religious (CLAR)
• The Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University (JST–SCU) in the United States
• The Latin American Observatory of Synodality
• The World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (UMOFC)
Together, these bodies have shaped a program that integrates academic rigor, pastoral reflection, and intercultural dialogue hallmarks of the synodal process itself.
CELAM expects over 10,000 participants to register for the course, with invitations extended to bishops, clergy, consecrated men and women, pastoral workers, lay leaders, and members of Church movements across the world. Notably, special encouragement has been given to participants from Africa and Asia, reflecting the global scope of the synodal vision.
The course will be available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, ensuring accessibility for participants across continents. Through interactive sessions, recorded lectures, and community discussions, participants will explore how to put the Synod’s conclusions into action in their local contexts from parish renewal and pastoral planning to social and missionary engagement.
The announcement of the “Together” platform reflects CELAM’s enduring commitment to advancing the synodal vision first articulated at the Aparecida Conference (2007) and reaffirmed throughout the Synod process initiated by Pope Francis.
“This is not just about learning,” CELAM explained in its message to Vatican News. “It is about conversion of hearts, structures, and communities to live out the Church that listens, walks together, and goes forth in mission.”
As the global Church moves deeper into the synodal journey, CELAM’s initiative stands as a pioneering model of how digital tools and global partnerships can serve the Gospel turning reflection into transformation, and dialogue into discipleship.