This morning Pope Francis presided at the opening Mass of the second session of the XVI Assembly of the Synod before 25,000 faithful who gathered in St. Peter’s Square to participate in the celebration. The work, whose main theme will be Synodality, will continue until October 27.
During the celebration of the liturgical memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels, the Pope recalled that the Synod is a “journey”. Initiated three years ago, Francis asked to resume this itinerary now “with an eye turned to the world”, to “this dramatic hour of our history”, while war and violence “continue to devastate entire peoples and nations”, because in this context the Christian community, which “is always at the service of humanity”, is called to proclaim the Gospel.
Listening. guarding and humility
In his homily, the Pope recalled that “the Synod is also a journey in which the Lord places in our hands the history, dreams and hopes of a great People of sisters and brothers scattered throughout the world, animated by our same faith, driven by the same desire for holiness so that, with them and through them, we may try to understand what path to follow to arrive where He wants to lead us”.
The Holy Father also pointed out that “the Synod, given its importance, in a certain sense asks us to be ‘big’ – in mind, heart and outlook – because the issues to be dealt with are ‘big’ and delicate, and the scenarios in which they are situated are broad and universal. But precisely for this reason, we cannot allow ourselves to look away from the child, whom Jesus continues to place at the center of our meetings and work tables, to remind us that the only way to be “equal” to the task entrusted to us is by making ourselves small and welcoming one another, with humility, as such”.
Fasting and prayer for world peace
Given the current situation of war that people are experiencing in different parts of the world and to invoke the gift of peace, the Pope announced that next Sunday, October 6, he will gather in prayer in the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray the Rosary and address “a heartfelt supplication to the Virgin Mary,” and invited the members of the Synod to join him. He also called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world on October 7.
Start of work
The first working sessions of the Synodal Assembly began this afternoon with the Pope’s motivation: “To journey together, all of us, is a process in which the Church, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, sensitive in accepting the signs of the times, continually renews herself and perfects her sacramentality, in order to be a credible witness of the mission to which she has been called, to gather all the peoples of the earth into the one people expected at the end, when God himself will make us sit down at the banquet he has prepared for us. It is in this spirit that the synodal work sessions will continue until October 27.
