VATICAN CITY, OCT. 24, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Most of the participants in the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist are heading home, but the work of the assembly has not ended.
The assembly officially closed Sunday, and now the last and decisive phase of the synod’s work gets under way.
This work falls primarily on the shoulders of Benedict XVI, who must write the postsynodal apostolic exhortation, the conclusive document that will be based on the 50 propositions approved by the synodal fathers.
To do this work, the Pope will count on the help of a postsynodal council of bishops, elected by him and the assembly.
The secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops reported the names of the council members. They are:
— Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments
— Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima, Peru
— Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires and vice president of the Argentine episcopal conference
— Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster, president of the bishops’ conference of England and Wales
— Cardinal Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice, Italy
— Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, archbisop of Ranchi, India
— Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia
— Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec
— Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
— Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisangani, president of the Congolese episcopal conference
— Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference and president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar
— Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
— Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong
— Bishop Djura Dzudzar, apostolic exarch of Serbia and Montenegro for Byzantine-rite Catholics
— Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Imus, Philippines
The members of the postsynodal council will meet on several occasions in Rome to evaluate the results of the synod and its application.
Archbishop Roland Minnerath of Dijon, France, and special secretary of the synod, said that Benedict XVI’s postsynodal exhortation might have a different form «from the previous ones and will have his mark.»
