in a different Rome parish. Ongoing revision of the schemas At the end of the third session, 11 schemas remained unfinished and during the interval between the sessions the commissions worked to give them their final form. The schemas that were having the bumpiest ride were those on Revelation, Religious freedom, Non-Christian Religions, and The Church in the Modern World. Cardinal Ritter observed that, "We were stalled by the delaying tactics of a very small minority" in the Curia who were more industrious in communicating with the pope than was the more progressive majority. Fourth period: 14 September – 8 December 1965 The last period of the Council opened on September 14, 1965. There were still 11 schemas making their way through the conciliar process. Given the number of schemas, the session was planned to be 12 weeks long, 2 weeks longer than the others. Opening Pope Paul gave a long opening address, extolling the council as a great event in the life of the Church and expressing great support for the Church's concern for the fate of the world (echoes of the schema on the Church in the Modern World). He then made 2 surprising announcements. He planned on creating a body of bishops that would meet occasionally with him in an exercise of collegial responsibility for the whole Church. Great applause. Secondly, he would go to New York to speak at the United Nations about the Church's interest in fostering “concord, justice, fraternal love, and peace among all human beings”. More applause. The two announcements buoyed the spirits of the Council Fathers at the beginning of what promised to be a long and possibly difficult Fourth Session. The very next day, the Pope issued Apostolica sollicitudo, the motu proprio creating the Synod of Bishops. Enthusiasm waned when it became clear that the Synod would be a purely advisory body completely under the authority of the Pope. Those who thought the Synod of Bishops might one day exercise power over the Curia were disappointed. Some believed the sudden announcement was a preemptive move to forestall any vote by the Council in favour of a more powerful episcopal body. Schemas: Religious Freedom, Revelation Religious Freedom Though a procedural maneuver at the end of the last session had succeeded in prolonging debate on the schema, nothing new was being said. The same arguments were being advanced for and against by the