John Allen reports at NCR

Proposition 23 suggests moving the Sign of Peace in the Mass to immediately after the Prayers of the Faithful, hence before the Eucharistic Prayer, and also affirms existing rules that the priest is not to leave the sanctuary during the Sign of Peace. Proposition 28 affirms the existing norms in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the placement of the Tabernacle, which calls for location in a “prominent place.”

Proposed amendments to the propositions will be submitted on Wednesday, with the final draft circulated on Friday ahead of Saturday’s vote.

One synod participant told NCR on Tuesday morning that in his view, the propositions “faithfully reflect the discussion on the synod floor.”

Another participant, however, expressed dissatisfaction.

“I wonder why in the hell they brought us here and put us through all this,” he said Oct. 18, “to say absolutely nothing more than what has been painfully said for decades.”

This participant expressed hope that since Benedict XVI listened to most of the discussions, he might come up with more innovative responses to some of the pastoral problems identified in the synod.