In this Oct. 20, 2014, file photo, cardinals gather in the Synod Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Maria Grazia Picciarella, Pool)

Rome — The Vatican office for the Synod of Bishops announced that the agenda for an October meeting of global Catholic prelates on young people has been approved, following "an interesting exchange of opinions" about the document among the members of the organization's governing board.

In a brief press release May 9, the Synod office said the 15 bishop-members of its ordinary council had met together May 7-8 with Pope Francis to finalize the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, for the upcoming Oct. 3-28 gathering of Catholic prelates.

"The text raised up an interesting exchange of opinions, in the way of suggestions and observations that were inserted into the document, in order to give the Synod Fathers a more appropriate instrument for discussion," said the release. "The amended text was approved by all the participants."

A Synod of Bishops is a weeks-long meeting of Catholic prelates, held in Rome and focused on a specific topic. The theme of the 2018 gathering, chosen by Francis, is "Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment."

The meeting is being organized by the Synod's Vatican office, led by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, with the help of the group's ordinary council, most of whom were elected to their roles at the end of the last Synod in 2015.

Among the elected members of the council are Cardinals Christoph Schonborn of Austria, Wilfrid Napier of South Africa, and Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras. The only American in the group is Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.