Pope Summons All of Europe’s Bishops to Synod

Sounding a call for continental unity, Pope John Paul II on Sunday summoned an unprecedented all-European congress of Roman Catholic bishops to chart common action made possible by the collapse of communism.

“Never in the history of the church has there been such a continental meeting. To my mind, the agenda will be huge,” papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro said.

The public papal summons for a synod of bishops from two dozen European countries came after a Mass here before an onion-domed 17th-Century basilica that is a Czechoslovakian national landmark.

For the second day Sunday, John Paul drew gigantic crowds for outdoor Masses in a country where a peaceful revolution last winter ended four decades of Communist rule--and with it, the repression of religion. The Vatican says that at least half of Czechoslovakia’s 15 million people are Catholic.

Even after 40 muzzled years, everybody in the giant crowd here, old and young alike, knew the words to ancient and bittersweet hymns that echoed through the rain-soaked countryside Sunday in John Paul’s wake.

Tens of thousands of worshipers, many in local dress harking back to the Middle Ages and all waving yellow and white paper roses, defied glowering skies and fresh mud for the Mass here, which also drew Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki from neighboring Poland.

At an afternoon Mass in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, John Paul’s last appearance before returning Sunday night to Rome, the turnout was even bigger. Local sources estimated the crowd at about 400,000.

Citing Europe’s “vital transformations,” John Paul said he is summoning the synod to give his bishops “the opportunity to reflect more attentively on the importance of this historic moment for Europe and the church.”

The synod could be expected to address issues ranging from the church’s role in German unification to social concerns such as migration and the problems of ethnic minorities, Navarro said. About 1,000 of the world’s 3,000 Catholic bishops are in Europe.

Where and when they will meet is still to be determined, although in his announcement, which came as news to European clerics, John Paul called for a meeting “in the not-too-distant future.”

Synods, as papal-initiated deliberative meetings of Catholic prelates are called, are held regularly on an international level to discuss normal matters of concern to the church. Each country also has a conference of bishops to air national concerns, but never have the bishops of one continent met, although an African synod is slowly being organized.

“Europe is unique because it is a continent with a shared Christian heritage,” Navarro said. “Since 1981, the Holy Father has been talking about a common European home from the Urals to the Atlantic. Now events make it possible to put his idea into practice.”

Eastern Europe’s new breed of democrats count the Pope as a valuable ally whose support for human rights aided their suddenly successful struggle against long-lived Communist governments.

His satisfaction with the rise of democratic governments and a conviction that a new Europe could consolidate its gains in unity emerged as the principal themes of John Paul’s triumphant Czechoslovak visit, made at the invitation of political dissident-turned-President Vaclav Havel.

At his farewell in Bratislava on Sunday, John Paul spoke about all of the nations of Europe, saying: “After the upheavals of two wars which prostrated them materially and morally, after a period of 40 years during which an erroneous ideology forced them into separate and hostile blocs, now a new historical course makes them feel a nostalgia for agreement and understanding, with respect for the legitimate aspirations of each one of them.

“It is my hope that, overcoming all difficulties, the peoples of Europe will unite their efforts in order to strengthen mutual solidarity, effective cooperation and true peace in freedom and justice.”