Vatican
City, 25 June 2013
(VIS) – The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, having
concluded the institutional proceedings of the 13th Ordinary General
Assembly dedicated to the theme “The New Evangelization for the
Transmission of the Christian Faith”, which took place in October
of 2012, has begun preparing for the 14th Ordinary General Assembly
scheduled for 2015, according to a communique issued today by that
secretariat.
The
fourth meeting of the 13th Ordinary Council was part of the process
of choosing the theme for that Assembly. On 13-14 June of this year,
its agenda was to discuss the proposals for a theme that were
submitted by the Synods of Bishops of the Eastern
Catholic Churches “sui iuris”, the episcopal conferences, the
dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the Union of Superiors General, and
institutional organizations consulted in cooperation with the synod's
activity.
The
discussions began with an address by the secretary general of the
Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, who referenced the Year
of Faith currently in progress during which historical events have
taken place, such as the Benedict XVI's renunciation of the Petrine
ministry and the subsequent election of the new Bishop of Rome, Pope
Francis.
Participating
in the work of the fourth meeting of the 13th Ordinary Council were:
Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, O.F.M., archbishop of Durban, South
Africa; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Cardinal George Pell,
archbishop of Sydney, Australia; Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of
Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, and president of the Hungarian Catholic
Bishops' Conference and the Council of European Episcopal Conferences
(CCEE); Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India and
secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences
(FABC); Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of Sao Paulo,
Brazil; Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, DC,
USA; Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, archbishop of Manila,
Philippines; His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of
Kyiv-Halyc, Ukraine; Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy;
Bishop Santiago Jaime Silva Retamales, auxiliary of Valparaiso,
Chile, and secretary general of the Latin American Episcopal Council
(CELAM).
Pope
Francis received the participants in an audience on 13 June. Their
meeting then continued in two language groups, English and Italian,
during which the members were able to examine the criteria and
rationale for the choice the the next Assembly's theme with the goal
of deciding a few options to be presented to the Holy Father for the
final choice. At the same time, the date of the Council's fifth
meeting was set for 7-8 October of this year. Work concluded with a
prayer, entrusting the synod's future activity to the intercession of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
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