I reached out by email to every diocese in the country and asked: Has your diocese started any new initiatives based on the 2018 pastoral letter on racism published by the U.S.C.C.B?

This interview first appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of In Our Time, the newsletter of the Dorothy Day Guild, edited by Carolyn Zablotny.

The bishops will elect new leaders, consider new language about Catholics engaging in politics and hear an update about sex abuse accountability procedures adopted earlier this year.

“It is the voice of the local church, the voice of the church in the Amazon—of the church, of the people, of the history and of the very earth, the voice of the earth.... And this has value, it is not fake news,” Cardinal Hummes said.

Pope Francis does not aspire to fulfill his role as a theologian but as a pastor.

“The Church is a family of families,” Pope Francis writes in “Amoris Laetitia.”

Its multifaceted approach aims to welcome couples into the community, enrich their relationships and help them grow together in the faith.

While Pope Francis has given special consideration to what some may consider liberal life issues, he has also spoken up strongly and clearly for the more traditional prolife issues.

The text explains that “gender theory” expresses an ideology that “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman.”

The key, the filmmakers say, was to shift the spotlight off of Francis onto ordinary people who have been impacted by him.