‘Excluding religion from public life is hypocritical’
The 78-year-old pontiff’s first synod since his April 19 election will tackle the problems facing the Roman Catholic Church at the beginning of his pontificate and will focus largely on theological issues linked to the Eucharist, the Christian service of Holy Communion.
But more importantly for the wider world, it will also touch on thorny social problems like abortion and divorce, as well as attendance at Sunday mass and ecumenism.