Pope hopes spirit of charity will follow synod

FROM A ROME CORRESPONDENT
POPE PAUL said last week he hoped the recent Synod of Bishops would give a spirit of charity to the entire Catholic Church. It had brought about a closer communion between him and the bishops.
The Synod, he said at his weekly general audience, should "result in a more intensive and operative charity . . . we hope and pray for the progress of charity within the Church."
The Synod had been held not only to bring himself and the bishops closer together in the running of the Church, but also "to bring Christian people into a closer, more conscious and effective communion with each other."
`UNIFIED BODY' "If we want to renew the life of the Church . .. we must establish in ourselves a personal and supernatural cornmunion with Christ."
The Pope said the Synod made it easier for the Church to act at a local level while retaining its universal character. But in an apparent reference to dissent over issues such as birth control, he said the Church "according to the will of Christ must be a unified and orderly body."
MAJOR SHIFT
The Synod officially ended on Monday last week with the Pope accepting two of its recommendations a Synod every two years and a place for bishops in the permanent Synod Secretariat, He also promised to consider giving bishops a voice in setting the Synod agendas. The Pope is studying other recommendations, one of which calls on him to consult with bishops before issuing such documents as his Humanae Vitae encyclical last year against artificial means of birth control.
Many of the 148 Synod par. ticipants were reported to be confident that the Pope's acceptance of the three proposals marked a major shift of emphasis in the Church toward a sharing of power among the entire hierarchy.