The Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon Region is in the books. But what actually happened? Readers may take the question prosaically, or as the utterance of one who is reticent to believe the evidence of his senses: the way someone might say “What just happened here?” when what just happened was plain to see.
The reason for these musings is simple and straightforward.
Dr Paolo Ruffini, the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and president of the synod of bishops’ committee for information – who had told journalists he would seek information regarding the indigenous statuary that had been the centre of some controversy during the proceedings, and then was testy when a journalist prompted him for the information in a later briefing – at one moment during the official press briefing on the final Friday of the assembly’s working sessions instructed journalists covering the three-week event to disbelieve the evidence of their senses.
