Only nineteen months have passed since Francis became pope. So much has happened it's easy to forget how different things might be if not for his personality.
Since the Synod of Bishops was instituted in 1965, no pope has ever begun an assembly’s first working session with an address like the one Pope Francis gave.
Those hostile to Pope Francis and how he’s governing the Vatican and church have affixed the bull’s eye on the backs of a number of people close to him.
The synod comes at a time when a huge gulf has opened up between the teaching of the church on sex, marriage, and the family and the practice of many Catholics.
