TWENTY-FIFTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - At 5 p.m., in the presence of the Holy Father and 227 synod fathers, the Twenty-fifth General Congregation of the X Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was held to vote on the Final List of Propositions. The president delegate on duty for the conclusive synod meeting was Cardinal Bernard Agre, archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Cardinal Jan P. Schotte, C.I.C.M., secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, communicated the names of the elected Members of the Post-Synodal Council and the names of the Members nominated by the Holy Father:

AFRICA

1. Cardinal Francis Arinze, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (Vatican City).
2. Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, President of the Episcopal Conference (Nigeria).
3. Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo, President of the "Symposium des Conferences Episcopales d'Afrique and de Madagascar" (S.C.E.A.M.).

AMERICA

1. Cardinal Francis Eugene George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago (United States of America).
2. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina).
3. Cardinal Claudio Hummes, O.F.M., archbishop of Sao Paulo (Brazil).

ASIA/OCEANIA

1. Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., of Cotabato, President of the Episcopal Conference (Philippines).
2. Archbishop Henry Sebastian D'Souza of Calcutta (India).
3. Archishop George Pell of Sydney (Australia).

EUROPE

1. Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, President of the Episcopal Conference (Belgium).
2. Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Genoa (Italy).
3. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (Vatican City).

NOMINATED BY THE POPE

1. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, M.S.U., major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians (Ukraine).
2. Archbishop Henryk Muszynski of Gniezno (Poland).
3. Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop of Mexico City (Mexico).

At the end of the Congregation, president delegate Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Bombay, addressed the following words of gratitude to the Holy Father:

"We are indeed deeply touched by Your Holiness' punctual and attentive presence at all the plenary sessions, and by your kind invitation to be guests at your table in the Apostolic Palace. Since gratitude is the memory of the heart, we shall be ever grateful to Your Holiness for these signs of communion and benevolence, as well as the expressions of your Petrine charism to 'strengthen your brethren - confirm 'fratres tuos'.' ... We admire the way you sow the good seed of the Gospel untiringly in Rome and all over the world, and how you water it with your personal sacrifices and sufferings. We are confident that Your Holiness' Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation - in response to the many interventions, so rich in content, made during the Synod sessions - will help bishops to be truly shepherds after the heart of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. ... Among the fond memories that we are taking home with us is Your Holiness' lighting the lamp in the new Synod Chapel, on the first day of our working sessions, with the flame taken from the Shrine of St. Gregory the Illuminator in Armenia and given to you by His Beatitude Catholicos Karekin II. We assure you, Holy Father, that we shall carry this ecumenical flame in our hearts, and we shall pray with you that full Christian unity may be restored as soon as possible. ... I now invite the Synod participants to rise and to join with me in expressing our best wishes to the Holy Father: God bless our Pope, the great, the good! Laudetur Jesus Christus!"

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