The General Secretariat of the Synod has published the Notes entitled Recollecting. Accompanying the preparation of the local Church’s evaluation Assembly, a document designed to support dioceses and eparchies in preparing and celebrating the Evaluation Assemblies scheduled for the first half of 2027. Available in several languages on the Synod's website, the text represents an important milestone in the implementation of the 2021–2028 Synod.

From a biblical perspective, Recollecting does not simply mean looking back at the past, but recognizing God's action in history in order to discern the present and open ourselves confidently to the future. Local Churches are therefore invited to reread their journey with gratitude and honesty, recognizing the fruits that have emerged, the challenges that remain, and the new steps to which the Spirit continues to call them.

As Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, explains: "Evaluation is not a technical exercise, but an experience of gratitude and truth. Making memory means recognizing what the Lord has brought to maturity along the journey of our communities and allowing ourselves to be guided toward the next steps. In this way, the Church becomes ever more capable of conversion."

Addressed primarily to bishops, eparchs and synodal teams, the document does not provide a rigid model but offers questions, criteria and practical guidelines that can be adapted to each local context. Echoing the words of Pope Leo XIV, the Notes remind us that synodality is above all "a spiritual style. It is born from encounter, grows through listening, and matures in discernment."

The document is divided into two closely connected parts. The first guides Local Churches in preparing the Narrative Report, a spiritual rereading of the journey through three movements: gathering the memory, recognizing the signs that have emerged, and identifying processes of transformation, interpreted through the three conversions highlighted in the Synod's Final Document: relationships, ecclesial processes and bonds. The second accompanies the preparation and celebration of the Evaluation Assembly, convened by the bishop as a genuine experience of communal discernment, from which both the final Narrative Report and a Letter to the Other Churches will emerge as expressions of ecclesial communion and the exchange of gifts.

The documents prepared by each Local Church will be validated by the bishop and submitted to the national or regional synodal teams and to the General Secretariat of the Synod by 30 June 2027. This stage will lead to the subsequent national, continental and universal assemblies, culminating in the Ecclesial Assembly in the Vatican in October 2028, which will conclude the implementation process of the 2021–2028 Synod.

The document is available here: Recollecting