Pope Francis’ monthlong meeting on the future of the Catholic Church was wrapping up Saturday with voting on a final document on the role of women and how the church can better respond to the needs of the faithful today.
Organizers and participants alike have tried to temper expectations for any big changes to emerge, especially on hot-button doctrinal issues such as the church’s views on homosexuality. They have insisted that the mere process of forcing bishops to sit down at round tables to listen to ordinary Catholics for a month was the important novelty of the gathering.
