As many may know, this past weekend, we wrapped up our work for this session of the Synod on Synodality, and there are a couple of final events in Rome that I would like to share with you.

Last Friday, with the wars raging in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine, the Holy Father invited us all to be part of a rosary and benediction at St. Peter's Basilica, praying for peace. The Holy Father led us in prayers, and synod members led the decades of the rosary in different languages. There were also meditations on the different mysteries.



Synod's closing Mass

The closing Mass of the synod was Sunday morning at the basilica. Of course, many clergy, religious, members of the diplomatic corps, and pilgrims gathered with us for the Mass and the basilica was packed.

It was a very moving experience, and the Holy Father gave a wonderful homily. [ . . .]



Synod proposals

The synod ended with votes on a number of proposals that were given to the Holy Father as recommendations. And, of course, the synod did not really end because it has two sessions. Next October will be the second session, and out of that, a more definitive document will be developed.

I think people found it a very engaging and uplifting experience of communion and fraternity within the Church. There was such an array of representatives from all over the world. It certainly was very different from other synods that were perforce, very stylized and without the same kind of participation. During the course of the synod, people were changed to three different tables, so you were involved in conversations with different groups of people. It was a very interesting way to have intense communication and participation in the whole process.

With this synod, the Holy Father is trying to teach us a new way to relate to each other in the Church and to have greater participation and dialogue that can result in a deeper communion and greater motivation to evangelize and to carry out the mission of the Church.



Return to Boston

I returned to Boston on Monday, and on Tuesday, I gave the invocation at a breakfast gathering entitled "At the Intersection of Values and Finance," sponsored by a consortium of organizations, including the Haitian Project, Thursday Men's Breakfast, Young Catholic Professionals Boston, Catholic Charities Boston, the Notre Dame Business Council, and the Brown Club of Boston. It was a very well-attended event, and there were about 800 people gathered there.

Jack Connors offered introductory remarks, and the main feature of the event was a conversation with Brian Moynihan, the president of Bank of America. Bank of America is one of the largest corporations in the U.S. This has, of course, placed Brian Moynihan in a position of world leadership on many issues of economics and banking. He is present every year for the Davos conference, and he is also one of the advisors to the Holy See on financial matters.