At 09 a.m. today Friday October 26^th 2001, with the singing of the Hora Tertia, concluding with Sub Tuum Praesidium, the Twenty- Fourth General Congregation began, for the second voting of the Post-Synod Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and for the presentation of the Final List of Propositions. The President Delegate on duty was H. Em. Card. Bernard AGRE , Archbishop of Abidjan.

At this General Congregation which ended at 12.20, 236 Fathers were present.

At the opening of this Twenty-Fourth General Congregation, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, H. Em. Card. Jan Pieter SCHOTTE, C.I.C.M. gave the following communication:

I now wish to inform you about a Synod Father. His Em. Card. Ignace Moussa I DAOUD, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches (Vatican City), is not present here today in our General Congregation because he had to go back to Syria, where his mother passed away at the age of 92.

Together with our brother we pray for that perpetual light to shine over his mother before the Lord, the eternal Shepherd, the only one who can completely give evangelical hope.

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Then, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops reminded that according to Art.67, c. of the Vademecum Synodi in the second voting of the election among bishop members, of the Post Synod Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the ones to be elected will be those who will have obtained the greatest number of votes by relative majority.

Then the second voting took place for the Post-Synod Council, by roll name and the ballot of the voting cards was carried out by the Ballot Commission.

The name of those elected will be made public after the Holy Father appoints the members.

Then, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops reminded that according to Art.66 of the Vademecum Synodi the Final List of Propositions will be studied by each Synod Fathers in view of preparing the final vote. In addition, he reminded that the booklet on the Final List of Propositions is strictly personal. This is because it is a voting card of the Synod Bishops which they will then have to give back signed. They will use this to give their vote on individual Propositions (under the formulae Placet or Non placet) during the Twenty-Fifth General Congregation of this afternoon, Friday 26^th October 2001.

In addition, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops gave the following communication regarding the composition of the text of the Propositions:

After the Synod Fathers and the Working Groups carried out amendments to the first text of the Propositions, the Deputy General Relator, the Special Secretary and the Relators of the Working Groups, according to the Synod rules and practice, they then submitted these amendments for careful examination, discussing their nature and content in view of giving a complete text.

As regards printing presentation, as can be seen in the booklet of the Propositions, the parts which have been inserted following approval of the amendments are written in italics. In this way, this shows the amendments which have improved the text and made it the final version.

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Then, the following Synod Fathers intervened: the Deputy General Relator H. Em. Card. Jorge Mario BERGOGLIO, S.J., Archbishop of Buenos Aires and the Special Secretary H.E. Most Rev. Marcello SEMERARO, Bishop of Oria, for the presentation in Latin of the Final List of Propositions, the collected amended Propositions.

At the end of the General Congregation, the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops gave the following communication regarding the gift of the Holy Father to the Synod Fathers:

Towards the end of this Synod, the Holy Father is pleased to offer all Synod Fathers and participants a memento of our Tenth Assembly, where, as customary, the exchange of gifts reaches its climax in discussing, living, meditating and praying together.

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Then, he gave the following description of the gift of the Holy Father as a memento of the Tenth Ordinary General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops:

To celebrate the successful conclusion of the X Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the Holy Father is providing all participants with mementos of their synodal experience of communion and collegiality.

The Synod Fathers who are bishops are to receive a pectoral cross and chain, produced by the Italian firm F.lli Savi and inspired by the document Novo Millennio Ineunte based on the account of the miraculous catch of fish, Luke 5:1ff. With the words, Duc in Altum (Lk 5:4), a recurring theme in the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter, Christ calls his apostles to faith and trust in giving themselves to the work of being "fishers of men" (cf. Lk 5:10). Each member of the Church, in particular the bishops, are to renew their efforts, at the beginning of the third millennium, to their common task of announcing salvation in Christ to all and of bringing Christ to the world and the world to Christ. The pectoral cross (925/000 silver, 74.50 grammes), in the geometric form inspired by Giotto in the 14^th century Italian painting, bears the body of the Crucified Christ with the customary symbols of the four evangelists at the end of each arm. On the reverse side, the lateral bar bears the phrase "Duc in Altum"; at the base of the vertical bar is the coat-of-arms of the Holy Father and the hallmark for silver at the top. The pectoral cross comes in a red, velvet-covered box with a small, silver medallion of the coat-of-arms of the Holy Father attached to the lid.

The other participants are to receive the official medal of the twenty-third year of the pontificate of His Holiness, in either silver or bronze. The obverse side depicts the Supreme Pontiff giving his blessing and bears the inscription: IOANNES PAULUS II, PONT MAX AN XXIII. On the edge is the inscription E CIVITATE VATICANA and the number of the medal. On the reverse is a representation of Jesus standing on the shore beckoning Peter at the helm of the boat on Lake Gennesaret to launch out into the deep for the miraculous draught of fish (cf. Lk 5:1ff). Encircling the scene is the title of the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter at the beginning of the Third Millennium, "NOVO MILLENNIO INEUNTE" and Christ’s words "DUC IN ALTUM".

At the beginning of the Third Millennium these words are also a call to all Church members to follow the apostles’ example in the task of evangelization. The continuity of this Gospel message from the past to the present is repeated on the obverse side in the Holy Father’s gesture and is emphasized by the absence of a border on the medal. The medal is the work of the Roman sculptor, Gino Gianetti.

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The next Bulletin No. 31 (with a report of the Twenty-fifth General Congregation of this afternoon, Friday 26^th October 2001) and No.32 (with the text of the Homily which the Holy Father will hold during the Solemn Eucharistic Concelebration for the conclusion of the Synod in of St. Peter’s Patriarchal Basilica, under embargo until the time when it will be pronounced) will be available for the accredited journalists tomorrow morning, Saturday October 27^th 2001 at the opening of the Holy See Press Office.

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