Pope Francis suggested that his apostolic exhortation following the Amazon synod could be completed before the end of the year. The Holy Father is certainly capable of it. In 2015, the draft of Amoris Laetitia was delivered to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before the feast of the Immaculate Conception, less than six weeks after the synod’s end, and that was the longest papal document in Church history.
A target date of November 30, the feast of St Andrew, would be suitable. That was the date in 1919 of Maximum Illud, the apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XV calling for a renewal of missionary fervour in distant lands.
