SW News:

The Holy Father has exhorted believers to walk together with the gaze of Jesus who welcomes those who are weary and oppressed. He made this appeal in the homily preached during Holy Mass opening the XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which began in the Vatican on Wednesday. Pope Francis recollected the difficult moment in the ministry of Christ, who had a “gaze that was capable of seeing beyond”. 



Pope Francis said that one does not need a purely natural vision made up of human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles. Instead, it is the focus on Christ that matters, he said. He added that Jesus did not allow Himself to be imprisoned by disappointment when He faced dejection. Instead, He gazed at the Father remaining “serene even in the storm”. 



He said that Christ is inviting everyone to become a “Church that contemplates God’s action and discerns the present—a Church that does not face today’s challenges and problems with a divisive and contentious spirit but, on the contrary, turns its eyes to God who is communion and with awe and humility, blesses and adores Him, recognizing Him as its only Lord”. 

“This welcoming gaze of Jesus also invites us to be a welcoming Church” calling us to an inner attitude that allows us “to encounter each other without fear,” the pontiff said. “In synodal dialogue, in this beautiful ‘journey in the Holy Spirit’ that we are making together as the People of God,” he added, “we can grow in unity and friendship with the Lord in order to look at today’s challenges with his gaze”. 



He cited Benedict XVI saying the fundamental question in front of the Synod is how to communicate the reality that God has spoken to the people of today so that it becomes salvation. The pope also invited believers to follow in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi who received the mandate of Christ to “Go and repair the Church”. He said the Synod reminds everyone that “our Mother the Church is always in need of purification. 

The Opening Solemn Mass of the Synod began with a modern rendition of the Latin hymn Laudes Regiae which invokes the protection of God and blessings on the Church, the pope, bishops and the flock entrusted to them.