"A wide-ranging message with certain pathos to let it get out of its simply theological aspect". Thus, Msgr. Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Papal Council of Culture and of the Commission for the Message of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, presented the "Message to the people of God of the Synod of Bishops" today, during a press conference at the Vatican. The synodal fathers, said Msgr. Ravasi, "asked for the document to be dealt with in its entirety, in spite of its length, also through a series of notifications". It is a document to be "studied, delved into and presented". The text, added Ravasi, "is accompanied with a synthesis for immediate use". As for the structure of the message, the archbishop explains that "it conforms to a symbolic dimension" through four biblical symbols (face, voice, house, street), to render it understandable. Those symbols, concluded Ravasi, are like "four stages of a journey", which "encourages us to listen to and read the Bible with love".
