Throughout the Synod, various Synod Fathers will act as President-delegates, effectively chairing the sessions. At the conclusion of Mid-morning Prayer, the first President-delegate addressed some opening remarks to the Synod Fathers.
Holy Father,
I have the honour and the joy to offer you respectful and cordial greetings on behalf of all the participants present for this ordinary session of the Synod of Bishops. All the bishops, auditors and experts express through my voice their intention and their resolve to work under your guidance in order that the Church might be more and more faithful to her pastoral mission.
Your decision to hold two sessions of the Synod of Bishops on the mission of the family in the modern world has borne fruit. We have witnessed this fruit. Our particular Churches have striven to offer their own contributions to this work by responding to the questionnaire that gave birth to the Instrumentum Laboris. Our Synod is supported by the entire Church.
The Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, by which you reformed the procedures concerning the canonical process on the sacramental validity of marriage provides a precious indication of the spirit in which we now undertake this phase of our work.
Without questioning the sacramental tradition of our Church, nor her doctrine concerning the indissolubility of marriage, you invite us to share our pastoral experience and to better enact the paths of mercy by which the Lord invites all those who wish and who are capable, to enter into a process of conversion leading to forgiveness.
The Year of Mercy which you have promulgated for the whole Church is already without a doubt, a sign of hope for those who are overwhelmed by life and who aspire toward true liberation. Already, our dioceses rejoice as they are renewed in their mission to proclaim the Good News: Jesus came to call and to save sinners and he went to all lengths in love so that the path to grace might be opened to all those who might turn toward him and advance humbly toward the conditions of a new life.
For each of us, these three weeks of intense work will be an important experience of Church: seeking with conviction and humility to enlarge our communion. Despite our differences, we do not wish to experience this time as a test of wills where microphones and cameras will be our judges. We seek to experience this as a time of common conversion in the strength of the communion of which, you Holy Father, are the guardian and the servant.
Through the intercession of the Holy Family, we pray that the Spirit of the Lord may enlighten us and give us the strength to desire that which pleases God.
Address of Cardinal André Vingt-Trois
Archbishop of Paris (France)
President-delegate of the Synod
Holy Father,
I have the honour and the joy to offer you respectful and cordial greetings on behalf of all the participants present for this ordinary session of the Synod of Bishops. All the bishops, auditors and experts express through my voice their intention and their resolve to work under your guidance in order that the Church might be more and more faithful to her pastoral mission.
Your decision to hold two sessions of the Synod of Bishops on the mission of the family in the modern world has borne fruit. We have witnessed this fruit. Our particular Churches have striven to offer their own contributions to this work by responding to the questionnaire that gave birth to the Instrumentum Laboris. Our Synod is supported by the entire Church.
The Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, by which you reformed the procedures concerning the canonical process on the sacramental validity of marriage provides a precious indication of the spirit in which we now undertake this phase of our work.
Without questioning the sacramental tradition of our Church, nor her doctrine concerning the indissolubility of marriage, you invite us to share our pastoral experience and to better enact the paths of mercy by which the Lord invites all those who wish and who are capable, to enter into a process of conversion leading to forgiveness.
The Year of Mercy which you have promulgated for the whole Church is already without a doubt, a sign of hope for those who are overwhelmed by life and who aspire toward true liberation. Already, our dioceses rejoice as they are renewed in their mission to proclaim the Good News: Jesus came to call and to save sinners and he went to all lengths in love so that the path to grace might be opened to all those who might turn toward him and advance humbly toward the conditions of a new life.
For each of us, these three weeks of intense work will be an important experience of Church: seeking with conviction and humility to enlarge our communion. Despite our differences, we do not wish to experience this time as a test of wills where microphones and cameras will be our judges. We seek to experience this as a time of common conversion in the strength of the communion of which, you Holy Father, are the guardian and the servant.
Through the intercession of the Holy Family, we pray that the Spirit of the Lord may enlighten us and give us the strength to desire that which pleases God.
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