You are here:HomeNewsLatest News In his annual message for Lent, Pope Francis highlights similarities between Lenten and synodal journeys – both requiring effort and sacrifice. He says both are rooted in tradition and also open to newness with the goal of the ascetical journey of Lent being personal and ecclesial “transfiguration”. Pope Francis takes his inspiration from the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent writing that Jesus takes us with Him to a place apart during the season of Lent. “Lenten penance,” he writes, “is a commitment, sustained by grace, to overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the cross.” This requires effort, sacrifice, and concentration, which are also requirements for the Synodal Journey and therefore, Pope Francis says, the faithful can say “our Lenten journey is ‘synodal’ since we make it together along the same path, as disciples of the one Master”. Read the full message here