We Are Church Intl.

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We thank FutureChurch for this commentary

Along with Synod participants, thousands filled St. Peter’s Square this evening for a prayer service to open the Synod. Several couples gave testimonies about their lives. One couple told the story of their separation and reunion during a difficult period of their marriage.

Prelates lined up in chairs and appearing later in the service Pope Francis offered hopeful words prioritizing mercy over rigid adherence to unbending rules.

He asked for three things.

1.  The gift of listening for the synod fathers: to listen in the manner of God, so that they may hear, with him, the cry of the people; to listen to the people, until they breathe the will to which God calls us.

2.  Openness toward a sincere discussion and a spirit of fraternity

3.  A willingness to be able to overcome situations of difficulty with persistence, patience and creativity

As he ended he prayed, “The wind of Pentecost blow upon the Synod’s work, on the Church and on all of humanity….Undo the knots which prevent people from encountering one another, heal the wounds that bleed, rekindle hope.”

Let’s hope that Pope Francis gets at least a little of what he wants. We know Catholics stand with him in hoping for the same.

From Christian Weisner

At breakfast we welcomed Miriam Duignan from the London based Wijngaards Catholic Institute for Research.

In the morning, Martha attended the second day of CCRI’s seminar in the Oratory of S. Francesco Saverio del Caravita and had lunch with Rene Reid.

I was busy too preparing the press pack and my statement for tomorrow’s press conference.

In the afternoon Martha Heizer, Miriam Duignan, Deborah Rose-Milavec and I were at the International Conference "The ways of love" of the European Christian LGBT Forum in the Faculty of the Waldenses. It was the same room where we had our Shadow Synod in autumn 2001. The forum was chaired by the Vatican expert Marco Politi. The Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson was one of the speakers. Here I met him for the first time. I thanked him deeply for his clear analysis he made in his book "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus". Five years ago I had helped to organize the German translation of his book.

Later this evening Raquel arrived from Spain.

 The video is in Italian but below is information in English

Vatican City, 3 October 2014 (VIS) – A press conference was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office during which Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, outlined the structure of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, to be inaugurated by the Pope during a solemn mass in St. Peter's Basilica next Sunday.

The Cardinal explained that among the 191 Synod Fathers there will be 61 Cardinals, one Cardinal Patriarch, 7 Patriarchs, one major archbishop, 67 metropolitan archbishops, 47 bishops, one auxiliary bishop, 1 priest and 6 religious. There will also be 16 experts, 38 auditors and 8 fraternal delegates. He also remarked that since this assembly will consider the theme of the family, special emphasis has been given to married couples, parents and family heads, a total of 12 persons; there is also one married couple within the group of experts.

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