Synod: Details of the Calendar for the Last Stage, Topics and Announcement of Letter to the People of God

(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 19.10.2023).- On Thursday afternoon, October 19, at the opening of the 13^thGeneral Congregation of the 16^thOrdinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Mario Grech, the Synod’s Secretary General, gave information on the calendar that will be followed in the coming days.

The Commission for the Synthesis Report indicated new criteria for the drafting of the text:

1. The outline will not be presented in two parts (A and B), as the calendar indicates;
2. Moreover, the General Secretariat and the Presidency intend to offer the Assembly time to decide on the methods and stages of the next phase of the synodal process in view of the second session;
3. Finally, the Assembly has already approved the proposal to publish a Letter to the People of God at the end of the session.

Hence, for these reasons, it was necessary to make changes in the program.

• On Monday, October 23, as foreseen, the participants will gather in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the Eucharistic Celebration at the Altar of the Chair. Afterwards, in the General Congregation, the Letter to the People of God will be presented and debated — first in the Minor Circles and then in a common moment. The vote will then proceed.
• The works of the Assembly will be interrupted on Monday afternoon, October 23 and during the whole of October 24. The participants will come together again on Wednesday, October 25, for the presentation and delivery of the outline of the Synthesis Report by the General Relator. The text will first be object of a personal reading and will then be debated in the General Congregation and in the Minor Circles, for the elaboration of the “modes,” on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, October 26.
• On Thursday afternoon, October 26, contrary to what was indicated before, the participants will meet in the General Congregation to gather the proposals on the modes and stages of the months that will pass between the first and second session of the 16^thOrdinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
• On Friday, October 27, a holiday, all the participants in the Assembly are invited to take part in the prayer for peace, which will take place in Saint Peter’s Basilica at 06:00 pm.