Vatican City, Jul 6, 2005 / 22:00 pm
This morning at the Vatican, secretary general, Archbishop Nikola Eterovicand, and under-secretary Msgr. Fortunato Frezza, of the Synod of Bishops presented the long awaited “Instrumentum laboris” for the upcoming Eucharistic Synod of Bishops, and outlined many changes which will be implemented this year.
In his opening statement, Archbishop Eterovicand recalled remarks made by just-elected Pope Benedict XVI on April 20, who called October's 11th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops “a high point of the Year of the Eucharist inaugurated by John Paul II on October 17, 2004."
The secretary general also noted that the Pope had changed the dates of the assembly, which will now "last not four but three weeks, from October 2 to 23rd,” adding that Benedict had “modified the program of the synodal assembly in order to concentrate its activities and further encourage its collegial and synodal aspects."
Archbishop Eterovicand also noted several new innovations of the synod saying that, "Each of the synod father's contribution in the synod hall is to last six minutes, not eight as was the previous practice. ... The principal reason for this cutback is the introduction of an hour's free discussion, between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the end of each day's general congregation."