Pope Acknowledges Being Moved by Synod

The Pope announced that preparation of his postsynodal exhortation would get under way as another proof of listening to the Word and to the synod participants.

VATICAN CITY (Zenit) - After the conclusion of the working sessions of the world Synod of Bishops, Benedict XVI invited the some 400 participants and collaborators to lunch.The meal took place Saturday at 1 p.m., in the atrium of Paul VI Hall.

President Delegate Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, addressed the Holy Father on behalf of the assembly, offering a brief, spontaneous and humorous reflection in Italian.The Australian cardinal brought a chuckle suggesting that this synod was one of those during which "most agreement and most communion" was lived, and therefore that "it has been perhaps the least interesting."

When the Holy Father rose to greet the group, he made reference to the joke, saying that he didn't know if the synod had been the most interesting, but, yes, the most moving. This, he said, is because in listening to one another speak of the Word of God, we better hear the Lord.

Thus, the Pontiff affirmed, the participants have learned to hear the Word of God better, discovering in it new possibilities. Meditation and reflection, he stated, can never exhaust all the treasures it contains.

Benedict XVI also brought chuckles from the group. Referring to the large amount of work done by the relator-general, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, and the special secretary, Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, the Holy Father said with a smile that he felt uneasy at the violation of the human right to rest on Sunday and sleep at night.

Finally, the Pope announced that preparation of his postsynodal exhortation would get under way, another proof of listening to the Word and to the synod participants.