Following the listening phase of the Synod on Synodality, a mix of religious, clergy and lay people gathered in Frascati, Italy, to synthesize reports from around the world. Austen Ivereigh took part and gives this insider’s account.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explain the pope’s reasoning behind his decision to extend the synod.

In a surprise announcement this morning, Pope Francis has announced that the final, Roman phase of the ongoing Synod on Synodality will extend over two sessions from October 4-29, 2023, and in October 2024.

For our latest "Inside the Vatican" deep dive, we interviewed top officials in the Vatican’s synod office and ordinary Catholics holding listening sessions around the world—including someone who is more critical of the synod.

We should not be surprised when any notion of the church as a perfect society is not embraced by people who have real wounds and struggles.

Catholics must be careful, he said, because “both the ‘progressivism’ that lines up behind the world and the ‘traditionalism’ that longs for a bygone world are not evidence of love, but of infidelity,” the pope said.