As the synod on the family reached the midway stage on a positive note Pope Francis took the unprecedented and highly significant decision to add six highly qualified synod fathers to the team that will write its Final Report nbsp That decision could prove to be a game changer At almost all of th

One of the Vatican rsquo s top canon lawyers at the Synod of Bishops on the Family says the current process for the annulment of marriages in the Catholic Church could be streamlined and expanded to the benefit of very many people whose marriages have broken down This could be one of the positive f

The synod has just begun but there are already early signs that many aspects of church teaching and praxis are coming under scrutiny with demands for change including a change in the language it uses Seventy synod fathers spoke in the first 24 hours raising many issues including the need for the

In a major break with past praxis almost 50 years after Paul VI first established the synod of bishops Pope Francis has given the synod fathers the key elements for synodality something akin to a bill of rights that creates a climate of freedom He did so at the start of the synod rsquo s first pl

This week the church rsquo s Extraordinary Synod on the Family begins its deliberations on ldquo the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization rdquo nbsp Coincidentally the weekend also saw the opening of ldquo Gone Girl rdquo one of the most provocative and disturbi