Baltimore, Md., Nov 14, 2023 / 16:52 pm
The U.S. Catholic Church’s two major undertakings of the past year — a national Eucharistic revival and the Synod on Synodality — aren’t separate initiatives with distinct goals, rather “they belong together by their very nature, and they shed light on one another,” Pope Francis’ ambassador to the United States said Tuesday.
“Eucharistic revival and synodality go together. Or to put it another way, I believe that we will have true Eucharistic revival when we experience the Eucharist as the sacrament of Christ’s incarnation: as the Lord walking with us together on the way,” Cardinal Christophe Pierre said.
The French-born prelate, who has served as the Vatican’s nuncio or chief diplomat to the U.S. since 2016, spoke Nov. 14 at the U.S. bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore.
The annual gathering comes as the bishops set their sights on two key events next year. The first is the National Eucharistic Congress taking place July 17–21 in Indianapolis, the culmination of a three-year campaign to revive Catholic devotion to the Eucharist, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The second comes in October when the Synod on Synodality, widely seen as the linchpin of Pope Francis’ papacy, concludes in Rome with its second and final assembly.