Francis wants a strong debate at next month’s gathering – that seems certain. But everything else is up in the air, says Ed West NEXT month more than 350 people – including cardinals, bishops and married couples – will gather in Rome for the most highly anticipated Church gathering since the Second Vatican Council half a century ago. The discussions, focused on the “pastoral challenges of the family”, could have profound implications for millions of married people and their children. The family synod has for many months been the subject of fevered speculation and vigorous debate. Yet now, on the brink of the event itself, virtually nothing is known about how the synod will unfold and what form its final message will take. All that we know for certain is what Pope Francis spoke about in an interview with a Portuguese radio station. Each of the three weeks of the synod, he said, would focus on a different section of the working document, the Instrumentum Laboris. Those sections are: considering the challenges of the family; the discernment of the family vocation and the mission of the family today. The rest is conjecture. Vatican insiders, for instance, say there will be no mid-term report – the text that caused such an intense reaction at the extraordinary synod last year. Vatican journalist Andrea Gagliarducci claims the discussions will take place in small groups and that a summary of these group discussions will be written, but not made public. He points to the fact that no one has been appointed to write a concluding message as proof of this.