At 09 a.m. today Monday October 22nd 2001, in the presence of the Holy Father, with the singing of the Hora Tertia, the Twenty-second General Congregation began, for the reading of the Integrated List of Propositions. The President Delegate on duty was H. Em. Card. Giovanni Battista RE, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

At this General Congregation which ended at 11:35 a.m. with the prayer Angelus Domini; 229 Fathers were present.

On opening this Twenty-second General Congregation, the President Delegate on duty H. Em. Card. Giovanni Battista RE, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, pronounced the following address to the Holy Father John Paul II, on the occasion of the twenty-third anniversary of the beginning of his ministry as Supreme Shepherd of the Church:

Today we begin the last week of our Synod Assembly and are pleased about approaching the end; rejoicing in the Lord that this occurs on the twenty-third anniversary of the first solemn celebration of the Holy Mass of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square.

We all recall the words which we heard then: Do not be afraid Open the doors to Christ. Rather open wide the doors to Christ.

We send our most fervent warm wishes to the Holy Father, saying: May the Lord preserve you, support you as well as give you serenity and joy.

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Then, the General Secretary gave the following communication:

The Integrated List of Propositions is presented at this twenty-second General Congregation and subsequently the Working Groups will have to formulate the Amendments to the Propositions.

The instructions regarding the Amendments are listed in our Vademecum in Articles 63 and 64, which we hereby read together:

Art. 63: THE INDIVIDUAL AMENDMENTS TO THE PROPOSITIONS

a. Once the reading of the Integrated List has been concluded, only the Synod Fathers privately study the propositions and prepare the individual amendments (modi), which each one presents to his respective small group for collegial examination and discussion.

b. The amendments-changes to an already substantially approved text-are meant to draw out the meaning, to eliminate parts and to integrate or correct elements in such a way as to express better and more fully the thoughts of the assembly.

c. The amendments serve to enrich the content and to improve the style of the propositions.

d. The individual or personal amendments are to be submitted to the small group in writing on forms designated for this purpose; each is to be on a separate sheet and bear the name of the Synod Father who authored it.

e. The drafting of the individual amendments is limited to the study phase of the Integrated List only. No individual amendments are accepted in the later stage (for example, in the Final List).

Art. 64: THE FORMULATION OF THE COLLECTIVE AMENDMENTS

a. Discussion of the individual amendments in the small groups leads to the formulation of collective or collegial amendments (modi collectivi) in the language of the group or in Latin.

b. Several sessions of the small group meetings are devoted to this task.

c. So as to arrive more effectively at a synodal consensus, the collective amendments are the result of a voting process by absolute majority.

d. The number of collective amendments would be limited.

e. The Rapporteur of each small group copies down the amendments approved by his respective group, each one on a separate sheet, so as to facilitate the work of those who must collect, study and compare them.

f. The collective amendments are submitted to the Special Secretary by the Rapporteurs of the small groups.

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Later, the General Relator H. Em. Card. Edward Michael EGAN, Archbishop of New York, the Deputy General Relator H. Em. Card. Jorge Mario BERGOGLIO, S.J., Archbishop of Buenos Aires and H.E. Most Rev. Marcello SEMERARO, Bishop of Oria, intervened at this Twenty-second General Congregation for the reading in Latin of the Integrated List of Propositions. The Integrated List of Propositions is the fruit of work by the General Relator and the Deputy General Relator, the Special Secretaries and the Relators of the Working Groups during the afternoon of October 19^th 2001 and Saturday October 20^th 2001, in view of reaching a consensus on a series of Propositions which are considered necessary and opportune to be submitted to the Holy Father.

The reading of the Integrated List of Propositions was introduced by the General Relator with the following words:

It is my honor and pleasure to present to you the Elenchus Unicus Propositionum.

You will be interested to know that the Circuli Minores drafted a total of 285 Propositiones:

• Gallicus A: 10

• Gallicus B: 20

• Gallicus C: 19

• Anglicus A: 27

• Anglicus B: 24

• Anglicus C: 26

• Hispanicus A: 46

• Hispanicus B: 31

• Hispanicus C: 23

• Italicus A: 29

• Italicus B: 20

• Germanicus: 10

The Relatores of all the Circuli along with 4 of the experts first unified the draft texts of the same language. After that three groups of four Relatores each proceded to a further elaboration of the Propositiones in different languages, according to the subject matter and the convergence of the different themes.

The Relator Generalis, the Relator Generalis Adiunctus and the Secretarius Specialis produced a final version in taking care to eliminate overlapping texts and to ascertain the relevance of the Propositiones with regard to the theme of the Synod.

I am delighted to have an opportunity to thank Card. Jorge Mario BERGOGLIO, S.I., Relator Generalis Adiunctus, Bishop Marcello SEMERARO, Secretarius Specialis, the Relatores of the Circuli Minores, the Experts and the Staff of the General Segretariate, for many hours of dedicated service. It was an honor to work alongside them.

Taking into account the various contributions of the Circuli Minores, and also the degree of approval manifested by the Synod Fathers, a unified list of 68 Propositiones was composed in Latin and is hereby put before you.

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This afternoon October 22^nd 2001, tomorrow October 23^rd 2001 and on Wednesday morning October 24^th 2001 the Working Groups will continue discussing the individual amendments, voted on an absolute majority basis, which will be given by the Relators of the Working Groups to the General Secretariate of the Synod of Bishops on 24^th October 2001, at the end of the of the Working Groups.

The collective amendments of the Working Groups will be studied by the Relators of the Working Groups under the guidance of the General Relator and of the Deputy General Relator as well as with the assistance of the Special Secretary and the Experts, the result of which will be submitted under the form of the Final List of Propositions during the Twenty-fourth General Congregation on Friday Morning, October 26^th 2001.

The thirteenth and last information pool for the Synod Hall will be formed for the opening prayer of the Twenty-fourth General Congregation of Friday morning, October 26^th 2001.

The list for registration to the pool is available to the editors at the Information and Accreditation Office of the Holy See Press Office (at the entrance, on the right).

We would like to remind that the audio-visual operators (cameramen and technicians) and photographers are kindly requested to apply to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications to participate in the information pool for the Synod Hall.

We would also like to remind the participants in the information pool that they are kindly requested to be at the Press Area at 8:30 a.m., outside the entrance of the Paul VI Hall, when they will be called by name to enter the Synod Hall, always accompanied respectively by an officer of the Holy See Press Office and from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The third (and last) briefing whereby the Press officers will be accompanied for each language group by a Synod Father of the same language will take place on Wednesday October 24^th 2001 at 13:00 in the briefing locations and with the Press Officers indicated in Bulletin No.2. The names of the Synod Fathers will be published as soon as possible.

We would like to remind the audio-visual operators (cameramen and technicians) to request the access permit (restricted) from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The third (and last) Press Conference on the Synod works, after the presentation of the Integrated List of Propositions, will take place on Friday October 26^th 2001 at 12.45 p.m. in the John Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office. We will inform about the names of the participants as soon as possible.

The next Bulletin No. 27 of Thursday October 25th 2001, regarding the work of the Twenty-third General Congregation will be available for the accredited journalists on Friday morning, October 26^th 2001 at the opening of the Holy See Press Office.

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