Americas united for poor.

ROME--The month-long Synod of Bishops for America produced few new ideas but fostered a new sense of unity and solidarity among the North, Central, and South American bishops who participated, Catholic News Service reported. According to Chicago Archbishop Francis George, the real story of the synod may have been a basic shift in relationships, with North and South American Catholics now looking to each other first instead of to Europe. In its final proposals, the synod urged a renewed style of evangelization and decried the widening gap between rich and poor, in particular the foreign debt crushing poor Third World nations. The document emphasized the need to bring people to an "encounter with the living Christ" and stressed the church's identification with the poor. The bishops repeatedly warned of the dangers of unbridled capitalism. They asked the whole church to take a more active role in promoting justice in the global economy and to condemn "neo-liberalism," which they said was responsible for widening the gap between rich and poor.