Synod on the Family 2015
Friday, October 2, 2015
Pope Francis on Sunday, October 4, 2015, will formally inaugurate the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. It will meet in Rome until October 25 on the theme “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World”. On October 3, a Prayer Vigil will take place in Saint Peter’s Square. There will be 270 Synod Fathers: 54 from Africa, 64 from America, 36 from Asia, 107 from Europe and nine from Oceania, as well as 18 lay couples, two priests and 13 persons in consecrated life. The Canadian Catholic television network Salt + Light TV will provide an extensive coverage of the Synod with daily reports.
The four delegates elected by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to the Synod are the Most Reverend Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau; His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto; the Most Reverend Noël Simard, Bishop of Valleyfield; and the Most Reverend Richard Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton. His Eminence Gérald Cyprien Cardinal Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec and Primate of the Church in Canada, was recently appointed by Pope Francis also as member of the Synod. Dr. Moira McQueen, Executive Director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute, Toronto, was named by the Holy Father as a Synod auditor. Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., CEO of Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation, has been named by the Holy See as press secretary for English-speaking media during the Synod.