Jesus when he chose the 12 Apostles so that they would stay with him and at the same time they would be sent to preach to the world.
The Sunday Service of Synod was held in the open air at Chanforan with its spectacular view over Val d’ Angrogna. Here, in 1532 at Chanforan, the Waldensian Synod voted to join the Genevan Reformation, but also commissioned( and paid 1500 gold ecus) Calvin’ s cousin the Hebrew scholar Olivetan to translate the Old Testament into French and revise Le Fevre’ s New Testament. This became the official translation for Francophones, and also the‘ pure Genevan’, hence in its English version the Bible for‘ Puritans’. Meeting again at Chanforan was to celebrate the publication of a new modern translation of the New Testament this year.
It was Olivetan’ s Bible that the Pope in the Waldensian Church in Turin accepted as a gift and kissed. It now holds a place of honour in the Vatican Library. Indeed, the Pope sent a notably friendly letter to the Synod, beginning:
Dear brothers and sisters. On the occasion of the opening of your Synod, I wish to express the closeness of the Catholic Church and my own. I salute you fraternally and with much cordiality I assure you that I remember you in my prayers …
And signing off with:
It is with fraternal affection that I thank you and ask you please to not forget to pray for me and for all of us, your brothers and sisters.
There were true debates on many controversial issues such as intercultural integration within the church, and also how to integrate the new models of being a‘ married’ couple and indeed a family and a nation. Synod voted that all children born in Italy should automatically be Italian nationals. Moreover they voted for the extension of the‘ Humanitarian Corridors’ on which a great deal of the 8 / 1000 has been spent on. Debates followed also on‘ What is a family?’ and‘ What is a life?’ and on the bounds of palliative care / euthanasia. During his speech at the end of the Synod, at which he had been re-elected as Moderator, Eugenio Bernardini reported that the 8 / 1000 tax contribution had risen to € 35 million.
Richard Newbury
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