Patriarch Cardinal Mar Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the World, headed a delegation that included Bishop Bassel Yildo, the primate of the Chaldean Church in Lebanon, Bishop Michel Kassarji, nuns and laity at the opening of the special session of the Continental Synod of the Catholic Churches in the Middle East. The meeting was opened this morning by the Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs, the Continental Synodal Assembly of Catholic Churches in the Middle East, whose work will continue from February 13 to 18 at the Harissa Center in Lebanon, one year after the opening of the synodal process, in which millions from all over the world are participating in its first consultative phase and is moving today to its second continental phase. His Holiness Pope Francis has asked all Catholic Churches around the world to “review their Christian lives and “walk together” in the light of the Gospel and the requirements of the present time in preparation for the Synod to be held in the Vatican City in October 2023 and 2024, entitled: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Sharing and Mission”. The opening session was attended by the President of the Synodal Assembly and President of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the East, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, Bishop Paolo Borgia, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Mario Grech, and the Coordinator of the next General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.
