Pope Francis receives the Fraternal Delegates to the Synod

On Monday, 21 October, in the Auletta Paolo VI, the Holy Father received in private audience the Fraternal Delegates participating in the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and thanked them for their contribution to the Assembly's reflections. The Fraternal Delegates were accompanied by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Sister Nathalie Becquart, Under-Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, Msgr. Juan Usma Gómez, and Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, experts theologians at the Synod.

For this second session of the Synod of Bishops, in order to ensure a wider representation, four representatives of the four major Christian traditions were invited: four from the Orthodox Church, four from the Oriental Orthodox Churches, four from the Mainline Western churches and four from the Evangelical-Pentecostal Churches.

According to the tradition of the Synod of Bishops, the Fraternal Delegates are not only observers, but are invited to join the discussions.

The list of the 16 Fraternal Delegates taking part in the second session of the XVI General Assembly is as follows:

Orthodox Churches:

Ecumenical Patriarchate
- His Eminence JOB (Getcha), Metropolitan of Pisidia, Co-President of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church

Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
- His Eminence GENNADIOS (Stantzios), Metropolitan of Libya

Serbian Patriarchate
- His Grace NEKTARIJE (Samardžić), Bishop of London, Great Britain and Ireland

Romanian Patriarchate
- His Eminence IOSIF (Pop), Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe

ORIENTAL Orthodox Churches:

Syriac-Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
- His Eminence Mor Justinos BOULOS SAFAR, Patriarchal Vicar of Zaleh and Beqaa

Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate
- Bishop Barnaba EL SORYANY of Turin and Rome

Armenian Apostolic Church - See of Etchmiadzin
- His Eminence Khajag BARSAMIAN, Archbishop Representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Holy See (Catholicate of Etchmiadzin)

Syro-Malankara Orthodox Church
- His Eminence Geevarghese MAR BARNABAS, Metropolitan of Sulthan Bathery, Member of the Episcopal Synod

MAIN WESTERN CHURCHES:

Anglican Communion
- Bishop Martin WARNER of Chichester, Co-President of the “English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee”

Lutheran World Federation
- The Reverend Prof. Dirk G. LANGE, Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations

World Methodist Council
- The Reverend Prof. Jong Chun PARK, Former President of the World Methodist Council

World Communion of Reformed Churches
- The Reverend Dr. Hanns LESSING, Executive Secretary for the Communion and Theology

Evangelical-Pentecostal churches:

World Baptist Alliance
- Prof. Elizabeth NEWMAN, President of the Doctrinal Commission for Christian Unity, Co-President of International Baptist-Catholic Dialogue

Pentecostal World Fellowship
- The Reverend Dr. Opoku ONYINAH, Former President of the “Church of Pentecost, Ghana”

Disciples of Christ
- The Reverend Paul TCHE, Secretary General of the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council (DECC)

Mennonite World Conference
- The Reverend Dr. Anne-Cathy GRABER, Secretary for Ecumenical Relations