Participants in the Amazon synod heard “the cry of the poor, together with that of the earth”, Pope Francis said at yesterday’s Angelus (full text, full video). Lourdes is seeing a “statistical explosion” in pickpocketing. Germany’s largest Catholic parish will open on January 1. John Allen, Rachel Donadio, JD Flynn, Andrea Gagliarducci, Sandro Magister, Rocco Palmo, Mgr Charles Pope and Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ comment on the synod. Damian Thompson assesses “the scale of the wreckage of the Catholic Church in the West since Vatican II”. BD McClay wonders if “our weakness isn’t, in the end, the best part of us”. And Matthew Becklo asks if Kanye West will become a Catholic. Follow me on Twitter @lukecoppen for updates throughout the day.