The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops has published the Final Report of Study Group No. 2, dedicated to the theme “To Hear the Cry of the Poor and the Earth.” The document is part of the synodal journey promoted by the Church and explores the relationship between the Church’s mission, social justice, and care for creation.

Introduced by a reflection from Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Report emphasizes that listening to the poor and to the earth is not simply a pastoral option, but a constitutive element of Christian faith and of the Church’s mission. The document calls for the development of a Church increasingly capable of listening, closeness, and shared responsibility, while valuing the role of local communities, ecclesial movements, Caritas networks, and the most vulnerable people.

Among the concrete proposals are stronger formation in listening as a spiritual discipline, the direct involvement of vulnerable communities in ecclesial processes, and the creation of an Ecclesial Observatory on Disability, conceived as a model that can be replicated at local and regional levels in order to give voice to marginalized groups.

According to the Report, the Church is called not only to have structures of listening, but to become itself a missionary presence alongside the poorest and most vulnerable, recognizing in the cry of the earth and of the poor an urgent evangelical appeal for our time.

The document is available here:

To Hear the Cry of the Poor and the Earth

Summary of the document