Theological-Pastoral Discernment on Sergio Lanza and Pope Francis

The catchwords of Pope Francis (2013-2025) are complex and significant: ‘epochal changes’ and ‘change of epochs’, and they need to be studied and judged in depth from a theological-pastoral perspective. Because rapid, almost unforeseeable, social changes require the Church to seek appropriate ways to proclaim God’s truth to new generations. Since pastoral discernment of the social and ecclesial situation is essential in modernizing the way of transmitting the faith, the author of the article, from a theologicalpastoral perspective, deals with ecclesial judgment. In the first part, he discusses the evangelical discernment in the thought of the pastoralist Sergio Lanza (1945-2012), who founded and elaborated the method of pastoral discernment. After that, the author analyses the meaning of discernment in some of the magisterial writings of Pope Francis, and, finally, in the writings related to the Synod on Synodality (2021-2024).