Video of the pre-dawn theft from the Santa Maria in Traspontina church was shared and celebrated on conservative social media on Oct. 21. The Vatican's communications czar, Paolo Ruffini, termed it a "stunt" that violated the idea of dialogue.

The synod is “not a discussion, not a parliament,” but there is “a spiritual dynamic,” said Giacomo Costa, S.J., the synod’s secretary for information, at a Vatican press briefing on Oct. 16. The biblical image, he said, is “the blind man who throws away his cloak to go to God,” and for the synod it means “to leave behind the safety of your arguments.”

“The synod is already a success by the very fact that it is happening,” said the Peruvian Jesuit, one of the president delegates of the Synod for the Amazon.

As the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon reaches its halfway point, leaders of indigenous communities are speaking with passion about what is at stake for their communities and their hopes for this synod.

Pope Francis said, “We must come to realize that what we are accumulating and wasting is the bread of the poor.”

He takes over from Commander Giani, who resigned yesterday after taking “objective” but not “subjective” responsibility for the leaking to an Italian journalist of a reserved notice informing Vatican security personnel that five employees had been suspended from their work “as a precautionary measure.”