Here's a story available today only from the OR because the Catholic news agencies ZENIT, CNA and CNS do not work on weekends.
Thanking the Synodal Fathers,
Benedict XVI praises
'the polyphony of the one faith'
Translated from the 10/24 issue of
I wish OR had 'photoshopped' this photo before they published it; I tried to 'lighten' it as much as I could with my limited 'Paint' tools.
Benedict XVI used a musical metaphor to describe the two weeks of Synodal work with the bishops of the Middle East during a luncheon he gave in the atrium of Aula Paolo VI Saturday to mark the end of the synodal assembly's working sessions.
The two-week assembly formally closes tomorrow with a concluding Mass presided by the Pope at St. Peter's Basilica.
In his after-luncheon remarks, the Pope referred to the Middle East as "that land blessed by God, the cradle of Christianity, a faith that is not close in on itself but is open to ecumenical dialog as well as dialog with our brother Muslims and Jews".
He invited them all to participate in the liturgy tomorrow, after living together two weeks of communion in teh Synod, to experience "a moment of conviviality with the Lord in the Eucharist, where Christ comes to us, and sets us into motion, as at the Synod, along a common path".
Earlier, the Pope recalled that the now traditional luncheon at the conclusion of Synodal working sessions had been started by John Paul II - Oct. 22 is the 32nd anniversary of his inauguration as Pope.
Benedict XVI thanked the officers of the Synodal assembly and the secretary general of the Bishops Synod for their work, recalling his own personal experience as the general moderator of the Synodal Assembly on the Family in 1980.
He said that the two-week special assembly on the Middle East had demonstrated the richness of the 'diversity in unity' of the seven Churches sui iuris in the Middle East, with their respective rites and cultures, but sharing the one faith in Jesus Christ. That faith, he said, which only the Lord can give and which links together all the Catholic Churches of the Orient.
At the start of the convivium, the secretary-general of the bishops' Synod, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, presented to the Pope the principal data on the work of the previous two weeks. He said 173 out of 184 invited participants had taken part, 11 of them having been unable to come to Rome for various reasons.
Fourteen general congregations were held, and six sessions of the various working groups. Ten reflections and homilies were delivered, and 125 interventions were delivered on the floor, plus five in written form.
Also addressing the assembly were 12 fraternal delegates, a Jewish rabbi, and two Muslims representing Sunni and Shia Islam.
Mons. Eterovic stressed the 111 interventions made in the presence of the Pope at the free discussion hours, which had been introduced to Synodal deliberations in 2005 by Benedict XVI. He said this aspect of synodal assemblies was in the process of development.
[I still have not seen a single report on these free discussions, and the topics taken up.]
He spoke about the gift that the Synodal fathers have made to Benedict XVI - a portrait which was on display at the atrium, executed by a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic artist now studying in St. Petersburg, from the realist school, "attentive to detail as well as to the spiritual dimension of the portrait".
Unfortunately, the OR does not provide a photo of this portrait.]
[According to the Oct. 19 bulletin from the Synod, at the general congregation on Thursday, the Synodal Fathers received the Holy Father's souvenir gift to each them - a gold-plated bronze image reproducing a detail of Giambattista Tiepolo's fresco of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, conserved in the Oratory of the Purità in Udine (Italy). The piece, executed by the Savi brothers, commemorates the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Marian dogma by Pope Pius XII, and is intended to represent the entrustment of the Eastern Churches to the maternal protection of the Mother of God.]
[No photo of this either.]
A musical intermission featured the performance of the classic Neapolitan aria
O sole mio by a young aide at teh Synod Secretariat, and a hymn of thanks to the Holy Father sung in French and Arabic to the music of the 'Ave Maria' of Lourdes.
Speaking for the Synodal Fathers, Syrian patriarch Youssif III Younan, one of the assembly's three presidents-delegate, thanked the Holy Fahter for the opportunity offered to the Middle Eastern Churches to be heard, assuring him that the pastors would return to their communities without fear of proclaiming the Gospel in charity and in truth and to live it faithfully day by day.
Finally, the Greek Melkite Patriarch Gregorios II Laham presented the Pope with a splendid Oriental liturgical garment.
News agency photos of the last General Congregation today:
Above left, first photo taken of the Holy Father with Coptic Patriarch Antonio Naguib since he was named one of the new cardinals-to-be, taken just before the Third Hour prayers today.
NB: According to the Synod bulletins, the Holy Father was present at each of the morning general congregations except last Saturday when he had private audiences, and all of the five free discussion hours held during the first week of the Assembly.
The final list of PROPOSITIONS from the Synodal Assembly may be read in English on
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_24_speciale-medio-oriente-2010/02_inglese/b25_02.html
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2010 20:23]