The cry for peace and unity at the synod’s ecumenical vigil struck me as particularly moving at a time of war that has exacerbated the fractures between the three “People of the Book”—Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Cardinal Steiner said they would like to call these women “deaconesses,” but they do not want to “confuse them with the ordained ministry,” and so, for now, they have not found a title that is “suitable.”

We’re now halfway through the four weeks of the second session of the Synod on Synodality. And a fair question to ask is: What have we done?

The Jesuit’s pilgrimage involves confronting one’s limits, only to discover that God never abandons us even in our sheer exhaustion, despondency and despair. The same is true of the synod process.

On the eve of the final session of the Synod on Synodality, a diverse group of women working in ministry at the margins of the church had the opportunity of a lifetime: a private audience with Pope Francis.

While it might not generate as many headlines as women deacons or L.G.B.T. Catholics, the role of the bishops has emerged as one of the most prominent—and controversial—topics of the Synod on Synodality.