We now know everyone who will participate in the historic month-long gathering at the Vatican this October.

As Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis’ special envoy for peace in Ukraine, concluded his three-day visit to Beijing, surprising news came from Moscow.

Pope Francis announced several times that he hoped Cardinal Zuppi would go to Beijing on a peace mission, but it has taken a long time for the Chinese to agree to accept him.

On the plane home from Mongolia, Pope Francis answered several questions about this October’s synod of bishops.

No bishop from mainland China has been allowed to travel to Mongolia as Pope Francis makes the first-ever visit by the leader of the Catholic Church to this vast landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia.

Why has Pope Francis decided to recognize a bishop installed by Chinese authorities—in violation of the historic Sino-Vatican agreement—more than three months after he was appointed to China’s largest diocese?