FRAIL health has forced Pope John Paul to abandon hopes for a trip to Australia or another Pacific destination to promulgate the final document from the Oceania Synod of Bishops in late 1998.
Noumea in New Caledonia, followed by Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, had been proposed as possible venues for the promulgation of the apostolic exhortation, Ecclesia in Oceania (The Church in Oceania).
This is the first time the much-travelled Pope has stayed home while issuing a regional synod document.
The pontiff reached his decision to promulgate the document at home after “much thought and consideration”, said Cardinal Jan Schotte, who is secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, currently meeting in Rome. The announcement was made at a regular assembly of the synod on October 10.
A Vatican source said Pope John Paul, 81, had decided the long journey would be too taxing for him.
