.- Pope John Paul II said this morning, in a meeting with the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, that the October 2005 Synod on the Eucharist – only the 11th synod of bishops since 1965, when the first was inaugurated by Pope Paul VI - is especially timely as it falls during the end of the Year of the Eucharist. The Pope highlighted the fact that "through the Eucharist we find the exemplary prefiguration of the communion among the faithful and their pastors, and the communion between the pastors of the particular churches and the pastor of the universal Church."
"This is a special case of reciprocity between the universal Church and this synod," he said. "During this year the Church and the synod are converging on a single goal: Christ in the Eucharist."
