When was the first synod of Catholic bishops?
Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church
In 1959, Cardinal Silvio Oddi proposed a permanent consultative body of priests drawn from many parts of the world to discuss major concerns of the Church. The same year Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink proposed a permanent council of specialized bishops to legislate for the Church in union with the Pope and the cardinals.[9] In 1963, during the third session of the Second Vatican Council, Patriarch Maximos IV proposed that the church should be governed by the Pope and the bishops as successors of Peter and the apostles respectively, not by the Pope and the "Roman clergy", that is, the College of Cardinals. Maximos proposed that the Council establish a rotating body of bishops in continuous residence in Rome to assist the Pope.[10]