South Africa’s Pretoria Archdiocese Establishes Team to Animate Implementation of Synod on Synodality

Pretoria, 13 September, 2025 / 9:20 PM

The Catholic Archdiocese of Pretoria in South Africa has issued a formal decree, flagging off the  implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, and set up a team to animate the process.

In a letter addressed to the Clergy, Religious, and the Laity in his Metropolitan See, Archbishop Dabula Mpako says that the implementation of the synod will build upon, and integrate the outcomes of the Archdiocesan synodal engagements.

“I hereby formally decree that all the faithful in the Archdiocese earnestly take up the call to embark upon the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality,” he says in the letter dated Monday, September 8.

The South African Archbishop directs that all parishes and pastoral districts embrace the exercise as the main focus in their year plans going forward. He also calls on all the sodalities and associations in the Archdiocese to prioritize the call.

The Catholic Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2011 in South Africa’s Queenstown Diocese, further invites all the Institutes of Consecrated Life in the Archdiocese to take up the call to implement the synod in their respective communities.

Archbishop Mpako says that he has established an Archdiocesan Synodal Team, which he says will work under his leadership to animate and supervise the entire process.

He says, “I have appointed Fr. Patrick Rakeketsi CSS, the Episcopal Vicar for Evangelization and the Pastoral Plan, to be the coordinator of this team, composed of members from the Clergy, the Religious, the Laity, and the Youth.”

“I urge the Clergy, the Religious and all the Faithful to fully cooperate with the Synodal Team and to play an active role in this synodal journey of our Archdiocese,” Archbishop Mpako says and goes on to pledge more information at the appropriate times regarding the practical steps to be taken as part of the process of implementation.

Outlining the rationale behind the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, the South African Catholic Archbishop says, “Having gone through the discernment phase of the Synod on Synodality, we have now entered the implementation phase of the outcomes of this discernment as contained in the Final Document (FD) that was issued and approved by the late Pope Francis at the conclusion of this process.”

Noting that the implementation phase will be carried out in the local Churches, Archbishop Mpako explains further, “The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has approved the pathways for the implementation phase of the synod that has been prepared by the General Secretariat of the Synod in Rome.”

“This guiding document is intended to offer a shared framework for the implementation of the Synod and to promote the dialogue among local Churches that will culminate in the Ecclesial Assembly to be held in Rome in October 2028,” he says.