In the bright morning of Wednesday, 4 October, 2023, at the crowded St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis presided the opening Mass of the long-awaited 16th ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The Eucharist celebration was characterized by the long entrance procession featuring an array of miters of Bishops and Cardinals, accompanied by the modern version of the traditional Laudes Regiae hymn.
We were privileged together with the academic community of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, to be among the about 25 thousand faithful, present at the St. Peter’s Square to witness this important and solemn moment in the history of the Church. In his homily, His Holiness, Pope Francis reiterated that the Synod is a convocation in the Spirit; not a polarized parliament, but a place of grace and communion. Being the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of Europe and Italy, the Supreme Pontif, recalling Jesus’ call to St. Francis to “Go and repair my Church,” said, “the Synod serves to remind us of this: our Mother the Church is always in need of purification”. He also invited the faithful to take up “only the weapons of the Gospel: humility and unity, prayer and charity.”