Dogma, doctrine and papal authority: What do you need to believe to be Catholic?

When I imagine how the next 11 months can be used most fruitfully, I think about something, or rather someone, who is largely missing from the synod in Rome: the parish priest.

As we approach the expected release of the synod’s summary report on Saturday evening and the closing liturgy on Sunday, here are three questions that I will be paying attention to.

As the first session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome draws to a close, the members have released a Letter to the People of God. The letter is the first of two documents expected from the synod before it concludes its business in Rome on Oct. 29.

Most modern constitutional states today describe themselves as republics. Such republics sound as though they have a lot in common with Catholic social teaching. They do.

“Recognizing the divergences is unitive,” a bishop member of the synod told me. “It can provide healing.”