BY Ian Dunn | October 20 | 
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Pope Francis Beatifies founder of synod of bishops
Extraordinary synod on the family ends with Pope Paul VI— a ‘great helmsman’ of the Second Vatican Council—being named blessed
Pope Francis described Paul VI as the ‘great helmsman’ of the Second Vatican Council as he Beatified him yesterday at the end of the two-week extraordinary synod on the family.
The Pope praised Paul VI (above) during his homily in St Peter’s Square for the Beatification.
“When we look to this great Pope, this courageous Christian, this tireless apostle, we cannot but say in the sight of God a word as simple as it is heartfelt and important: Thanks,” the Holy Father said, drawing applause from the congregation, which included Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whom Blessed Paul made a cardinal in 1977.
“Facing the advent of a secularised and hostile society, [Blessed Paul] could hold fast, with farsightedness and wisdom—and at times alone —to the helm of the barque of Peter,” Pope Francis said.
The Pope pronounced the rite of Beatification at the start of the Mass. Then Sr Giacomina Pedrini, a member of the Sisters of Holy Child Mary, carried up a relic: a bloodstained vest Blessed Paul was wearing during a 1970 assassination attempt in the Philippines. Sr Pedrini is the last surviving nun who attended to Blessed Paul.
The Pope highlighted his predecessor’s work presiding over most of the Second Vatican Council and establishing the synod of bishops. The Pope quoted Blessed Paul’s statement that he intended the synod to survey the ‘signs of the times’ in order to adapt to the ‘growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society.’
Looking back on his own two-week family synod, Pope Francis called it a ‘great experience,’ whose members had ‘felt the power of the Holy Spirit who constantly guides and renews the Church.’
The Pope said the family synod demonstrated that ‘Christians look to the future, God’s future … and respond courageously to whatever new challenges come our way.’
The synod, dedicated to ‘pastoral challenges of the family’ produced a final report on Saturday that, while failing to find consensus on issues of divorced Catholics and homosexual Catholics, will serve as an agenda for the October 2015 world synod on the family, which will make recommendations to the Pope.
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