Christopher White

Participants in a closely watched ongoing Vatican summit heard testimony about a young LGBTQ person who committed suicide and were provoked to tears, Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe revealed on Oct. 18. 

In an exclusive NCR interview, Australian Bishop Shane Mackinlay, one of the 13 members of the committee drafting the final document from the ongoing synod, expressed an openness to ordaining women as deacons.

The second week of Pope Francis' summit on the future of the Catholic Church included emotional debates among bishops and lay delegates over whether ministries could be expanded to include LGBTQ persons. 

View from the Vatican: In many ways, the story of Pope Francis' synod on synodality is best told through images. In fact, it's actually one of the only ways it can be told.

As Pope Francis' high-stakes summit on the future of the Catholic Church entered its second week on Oct. 9, the some 460 participating bishops and lay members considered how the church might provide greater welcome to all of its members. They also were given news of four COVID infections among their ranks.

A Catholic cardinal who is a former head of the Vatican's doctrinal office and a vocal critic of Pope Francis' ongoing monthlong summit on the future of the church has defied the pontiff's request that summit members maintain confidentiality about its proceedings.

Pope Francis on Oct. 4 released a new document taking direct aim at climate change deniers and castigating Western nations, particularly the United States, for "irresponsible lifestyle[s]" causing irreparable harm to the planet.

Officially opening the monthlong Synod of Bishops on Oct. 4, Pope Francis encouraged the participants, bishops and laypeople alike, to reject the temptations of doctrinal rigidity and to embrace a vision of the church that is open and welcoming to all.

As part of NCR's new podcast, The Vatican Briefing, one of the voting members of the Synod of Bishops has indicated an openness to restoring the early Catholic Church's tradition of ordaining women as deacons.

Pope Francis has expressed openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, under the condition they are not confused with marriage ceremonies for men and women, in what could be a watershed moment for the church.

Members of the Synod of Bishops are taking part in a retreat led by Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. Themes include clericalism; better inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics; the role of women in the church; and clergy sexual abuse.

Pope Francis on Sept. 30 elevated 21 Catholic prelates, including the Vatican's U.S. ambassador, to the rank of cardinal. In a homily in St. Peter's Square, the pope told the new cardinals they should not be defined by past traditions.

Pope Francis' ambassador to the U.S. Cardinal-designate Christophe Pierre admonished Catholic bishops who claim to adhere to papal authority, while at the same time openly criticizing the current pontiff. 

Cardinal Mario Grech of Malta stands at the center of the pope's plan to change the global Catholic Church. As he prepares to open the synod assembly, Grech told NCR he has "a free heart" about what is to come. 

On his return flight from Marseille, France, the pope decried euthanasia, abortion and war, and he repeated pleas for compassionate thoughts and actions to migrants. 

Pope Francis on Sept. 23 blasted those who seek to weaponize the issue of migration by "fueling people's fears" through "alarmist propaganda," and called for countries and individuals around the Mediterranean to reexamine their policies and attitudes toward asylum seekers. 

Amid tensions among European leaders over a new influx of migrants, Pope Francis on Sept. 22 arrived in the French port city of Marseille and warned that civilization is at a crossroads over the continuing migrant crisis.

Pope Francis is traveling to Marseille, France, this weekend to meet with Mediterranean bishops on Europe's migrant crisis. The pope's pro-migrant message is already igniting fierce debate across the continent.

Among those trying to drum up resistance to Pope Francis' closely watched Vatican summit on the future of the Catholic Church are a far-right Latin American traditionalist group, political activists, and retired U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke.

Pope Francis on Sept. 4 said that next month's hotly anticipated Synod of Bishops will be open to the Holy Spirit — but not so much the press or the public. "This is not a television program," he told journalists on the papal plane returning to Rome from his four-day visit to Mongolia.