As you will know, the Pope did not just call one synod but two but both were connected. The first, an extraordinary one in 2014, was called to think about the Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelisation and to define the status quaestionis, gathering together the bishops’ experiences of family life as it is actually lived by Catholics around the world and to think of proposals for proclaiming and living the Gospel of the Family in a credible manner. The second ordinary synod, just completed, thought about the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Modern World and set itself to identify working guidelines for the Church’s future pastoral care of the family.

Do not forget the Poor When Peter met Paul their key criterion of authenticity was not to forget the poor. This principle given by Peter to Paul, that Paul’s communities should not succumb to the self-centred lifestyle of the pagans- remains just as relevant today when a new self-centred paganism is growing. The Catholic Church may not always be able to live up to the beauty of the Gospel in every respect but there is one sign we should never lack: the option for those who are least, those whom society discards.