“We look back with gratitude to the day when Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council. It was his prophetic strength that recognised the signs of the times and took them on board boldly. John XXIII did it without fear, with a good dose of trust in God, as he was intimately aware that the Church can only be alive if she lives out her message in this age”. The President of the German Bishops, Georg Bätzing, said this in a statement today referring to the event that marked the opening of the Council 60 years ago. According to the Bishop of Limburg, the Council experience provides an indication for the Synodal journey: “There is a need to interpret the signs of the times in light of the Gospel, to overcome rigid patterns, and to take bold steps”. “We want to bear witness to the hope that sustains us and to translate the joyful message of Jesus in our time”, Bätzing went on to write, without isolating ourselves from society. Despite the crises in our Church, the goal is “to be a Church that serves people, that follows Jesus Christ, that looks to believers, seekers, and doubters”, a Church that, with everyone, shares in “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age” (Gaudium et spes).