Cardinal Louis Sako I, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, said he has been keeping careful notes on the synod in Arabic to share with people in the Middle East, since for those who speak no other languages, it was their only means of following the synod's progress.
He described the meetings as a miniature version of the universal Church and a school, saying everyone has "learned a lot from each other."
The Chaldean patriarch noted this was his fourth synod, and said this one is very different, particularly "in the way in which we are reasoning and analyzing all the challenges that the young face." Though he said he had hoped for a larger presence of youth, noting that there are just 34 young adult auditors and over 260 bishops.
He said in the synod hall and small groups they have discussed the hopes, dreams, and fears of young people and that he sees reasons to hope: "I think at the end of the tunnel there's a great deal of light."
Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, announced that the synod fathers will have the opportunity to take part in a short pilgrimage toward the end of the assembly.
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Organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, it will take place on the morning of Oct. 25, and consist of prayer while walking around 3.7 miles along part of the "Via Francigena," or "Way of St. Francis," near Rome.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.