The 12th Synod of Bishops is Opening on October 5.

(October 5, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI is inaugurating the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops with a Solemn High Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Sunday 5th of October. It will run through October 26 and focus on the theme "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." The working sessions will commence on Monday. Pope Benedict is the ex-officio President of the Synod. The participation of a rabbi, the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, and a record number of women is one factor that makes this month's synod extraordinary. There will be 253 synod fathers participating in the sessions and a session is allotted every evening for open discussions. The patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, will join with Benedict XVI in presiding over vespers and a celebration of the word. He will address the synod for a half hour, followed by an address from the Pope. Twenty-five women will also lend their expertise to the synod, six as experts and 19 as auditors. The majority of the experts are Scripture professors and several of the auditors are superiors of religious orders or representatives of ecclesial movements. Like the past synod, October's meeting will also lack something: There will be no bishops participating from mainland China. Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, and seven other Bishops from India will take part in the Synod. The Pope has invited four other priests from India to participate in the synod on various capacities. One Bishop each will attend from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In an event related to the synod, the Pope will be the first of 1,200 people to take part in a non-stop reading of the Bible expected to last a week and be broadcast on state television RAI. The Pope will read from the book of Genesis. All 73 books of the Catholic edition of the Bible will be read. Each speaker will read for about 5-8 minutes.