The first stage of the “Synod on Synodality” began with this Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, where the Pope proposed ways to begin the local phase of the synod which will take place in every Catholic diocese around the world.
It is the most ambitious measure in the history of Church synods, since the consultation phase will begin not in the Vatican, but in dioceses, with the aim of including the voices of more Catholics than in any other synod in history.
The Pope asked Catholics to look to Jesus, who went out to meet people where they were and listened attentively to their needs.
POPE FRANCIS
'It is a slow and perhaps tiring exercise, learning to listen to one another—bishops, priests, religious and laity, all the baptized—and avoiding artificial and pre-packaged responses. Let us not soundproof our hearts; let us not remain barricaded in our certainties. So often our certainties can make us closed. Let us listen to one another.'
The Pope said that the Synod is a unique occassion to practice the “art of the encounter” face to face with others.
POPE FRANCIS
'Let us be touched by the questions of our sisters and brothers, let ourselves be enriched by the diversity of movements, vocations and ministries.'
Some 3,000 people attended the Pope's Mass, among them people from Rome and members of the Curia.
It was also the last Mass celebrated with Fr. Guido Marini as master of ceremonies before he assumes his new role as bishop of Tortona, near his native Genoa.
At the end of the Mass, the Pope gave a blessing to Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez, the Colombian nun who was recently released after being kidnapped in Mali four years ago by groups linked to Al-Qaeda.
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