The just completed Bible Synod was the "least interesting" Synod, Sydney Cardinal George Pell told the assembled bishops at a final lunch with Pope Benedict, because it had the "most agreement and the most communion." Zenit reports that at the conclusion of the working sessions of the world Synod of Bishops, Pope Benedict invited the some 400 participants and collaborators to lunch 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 Pope Benedict 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.
Pope Benedict also added a touch of humour saying that he felt uneasy at the violation of the human right to rest on Sunday and sleep at night during the Synod.
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.
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(Source: CTHN)