Pope Francis called for greater female leadership in world affairs, telling the Women’s Forum G-20 that “our world needs the collaboration of women, their leadership and their abilities, as well as their intuition and their dedication.”

“Yet again, we find ourselves faced with the paradox of the Gospel: we are freed by serving, not in doing whatever we want.”

What Francis has done is to reestablish the priority of Vatican II in our liturgical life. He is saying, essentially, that no one can take an end run around it.

An adult survivor of abuse by a priest appealed to the world’s seminarians to become good priests and to make sure the “bitter truth” always prevails, not silence about scandals and their cover-up.

Pope Francis, in a keynote address to the popular movements this weekend, made specific appeals “in the name of God” to those responsible for key sectors of today’s world economy.

In addition to the difficulty of changing the attitudes of Catholics accustomed to a “command and control model” of church, the synod faces several logistical challenges.