Pope Francis has said "it would be tragic" if special interests "manipulated information" and won out over the common good, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said Nov. 30.

Meeting workers and addressing a major gathering of the Catholic Church in Italy, Pope Francis demanded an end to economic exploitation, to clerics "obsessed" with power, to apathy among youth and to a cold, fearful church that forgets Christ is always by its side.

The report was aiming to be a reflection of the overall sense of the "mind of the house" and indicate some general pastoral directions, Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai told reporters at a Vatican news conference.

After checking with the pope himself and other sources, Father Lombardi told reporters "the pope enjoys good health" and that the unsubstantiated news report was "a serious act of irresponsibility, absolutely unjustifiable and unspeakable."

All of Christ's disciples, especially its pastors, are called to model themselves after Jesus and "suppress our instinctive desire to exercise power over others, and instead exercise the virtue of humility," Pope Francis said.

Abuse by clergy in Australia has led to a crisis of faith and a loss of trust in the church.

Discussing a number of proposals he offered the synod fathers to think about, Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher said, "I think we should really start looking seriously at the possibility of ordaining women deacons because the diaconate in the church's tradition has been defined as not being ordered toward priesthood but toward ministry."

The pope has called on every parish, religious community, monastery and shrine in Europe to take in refugees, given the ongoing crisis of people fleeing from war and poverty.

'The church urgently needs religious who dedicate their lives to being on the very frontiers between faith and human knowledge, faith and modern science,' Pope Francis told the group of papal astronomers.

The complete list of synod participants and papal appointees was released Sept. 15 by the Vatican.