Pope Francis made two surprising announcements in Italian archdioceses—steps to change "the mentality and complexion" of church hierarchy. He’s run into opposition.
Engagement rather than denunciation marked the synod’s formal pronouncements, a pastoral style deeply rooted in Vatican II, and embodied in everything Francis does.
As a result of a recent vogue for feeling culturally embattled, the word “Christian” now is seen less as identifying an ethic, and more as identifying a demographic.