Around 5,000 people participated in the closing Mass of the Synod in St. Peter's Basilica, where they could admire Bernini’s restored bronze canopy, or “Baldacchino”, for the first time.
The Baroque masterpiece has been under wraps for several months now while it was being restored. But participants at the papal Mass were able to admire it in all its renewed splendor.
During the Mass, Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel of the day, which recounts the healing of the blind Bartimaeus who refuses to succumb to resignation and begs Jesus to heal him. In so doing, said the Pope, Bartimaeus was proactive and took the initiative. In the same way, hecontinued, the Church must never give up in the face of difficulties.
POPE FRANCIS
If we remain passive in our blindness we will continue to miss urgent pastoral issues, and the many problems of the world in which we live.
And I want to add, even if some may be scandalized: We need a Church that gets its hands dirty in order to serve the Lord.
Throughout the month of November, visitors to the St Peter’s Basilica, will also be able to view this ancient throne. Known as the “Chair of Peter”, it’s the historic throne of the Bishop of Rome, on which the popes of antiquity sat.
