The word “revolutionary” has been overused since the election of Pope Francis in 2013. But it might apply to the Amazon Synod which concluded last Sunday. The gathering of bishops endorsed three proposals which may prove to be turning points in the long story of the Catholic Church. The 181 synod fathers called for the introduction of married priests in Amazonia, further study of women deacons, and a distinctive Amazonian liturgical rite.  

To some, these may not sound like dramatic developments. But the Vatican-watcher Rocco Palmo put it well when he noted that if these proposals had been made just a decade earlier they might have attracted the attention of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).