Irish Examiner view: Reform is in the air at the Vatican

A global synod initiated by Pope Francis has revealed an across-the-board desire for reform in a variety of Catholic cultures

Although not a noted reformer, Pope Francis has frequently stressed the need for the Church to be in service to humanity rather than itself. Picture: Guglielmo Mangiapane/AP

The Catholic Church has not always been noted for its ability to sit up and take note of the wishes of its millions of adherents. 

Indeed, for centuries the Church and its subjects have been at loggerheads on a wide range of issues, but an invariably cloth-eared administration in the Vatican has ruled with an iron fist and not a velvet glove.