At Sunday audience, Pope recalls Synod, speaks of Italian priest beatified that day

October 26, 2009

At his midday audience on Sunday, October 25, Pope Benedict XVI divided his time between recollections of the African Synod, which had just completed its deliberations, and praise for an Italian military chaplain who was beatified in Milan that day.

Regarding the African Synod, the Holy Father told his audience that the participants had expressed excitement about "the dynamism of the Christian communities, which continue to grow in quantity and in quality" on that continent. He also mentioned one of the themes brought up frequently during the Synod discussions: that Africans should not succumb to "models of thought and behavior that contrast with the human and Christian values of the African people."

Pope Benedict then spoke briefly about Father Carlo Gnocchi, who earned renown as chaplain to the Italian "Alpine regiment" during World War II, barely escaping death during a forced retreat from Russia, and later helped to rebuild Milan in the years after the war.

 

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Further information:

• Angelus: Recollection of Synod and Praise for Don Gnocchi (VIS)