It’s not only the Church of England that has been having big synods recently. Throughout October, hundreds of bishops and others from the Catholic Church gathered in Rome for their own synod. But unlike the regular twice-yearly meetings the C of E has had for decades, this synod is a much larger, and rarer event. It’s all part of Pope Francis’s efforts to erode the hierarchical nature of the church and shift its culture towards one where the voices of ordinary lay churchgoers are more prominent. Conservatives fear this is the beginning of a process which could see traditional doctrines around women’s ordination, priestly celibacy, and gay relationships abandoned. But the Vatican insists this is actually all about what it is calling ‘synodality’ – a new way of doing church together, rather than immediately moving to debate the hot-button issues which divide Catholics.

Guests this week:

- Austen Ivereigh, Catholic writer, biographer of Pope Francis, and attendee at the synod

- Gill Goulding, theologian at the University of Toronto, nun, and member of synod’s theological commission

- Catherine Pepinster, journalist and writer, former editor of Catholic newspaper The Tablet

- ‘The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy from John Paul II to Francis’, by Catherine Pepinster: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/keys-and-the-kingdom-9780567666314/

- ‘Pope Francis and Mercy’, by Gill Goulding: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780268206444/pope-francis-and-mercy