Burke appeared out of step with the current pontificate.

'Some procedures are so long and so burdensome...people give up.'

The interreligious Vatican-sponsored gathering will take place Nov. 17-19.

Since the end of the Oct 5-19 Synod of Bishops on the family news outlets have portrayed the outcome as a quot setback quot or quot loss quot for Pope Francis mdash even a quot rebuke quot to him Journalists have pointed to the absence in the synod 39 s final report of an earlier version

'The poor no longer wait, they seek to be protagonists'

Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice."It is impossible to imagine that states today canno

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, said the October 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family should return to the practice of previous synods in publishing participants' interventions, for the benefit of their discussions and the information of the outside world.The archbishop,

 Beatifying Blessed Paul VI at the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops on the family, Pope Francis praised the late pope as the "great helmsman" of the Second Vatican Council and founder of the synod, as well as a "humble and prophetic witness of love for Christ and his churc

After several days of animated debate over its official midterm report, the Synod of Bishops on the family agreed on a final document more clearly grounded in traditional Catholic teaching. Yet the assembly failed to reach consensus on especially controversial questions of Communion for the divorced

On its last day of business the Synod of Bishops on the family approved and released a three-page message expressing solidarity with Christian families around the world The message released Oct 18 is distinct from the synod 39 s final report which the assembly was scheduled to vote on later th