Asked what he might ask Pope Francis were he to be a guest on his new show, Colbert replied, "I would ask him about how love leads him to joy, or does love lead him to joy?"

The synod "needs to be looking at the ways poverty undermines families," said Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America. "Healthy families need women who can support them," yet women overwhelmingly make up some of the most poorly paid sectors of the U.S. economy, such as waiting tables, and serving as health aids.

"We are gathered in solidarity and witness" to support the region's Christians who face "tragedy" every day. "Much, much needs to be said about what continues to happen in the Middle East."

Pope Francis' reformed rules for marriage annulment cases, making the process simpler, quicker and less expensive, respond to calls that bishops from around the world have been making since before the 1980 Synod of Bishops on the family convoked by St. John Paul II.Catholic marriage tribunals do

To be a true Christian means being forgiving, kind, humble, gentle, generous, merciful and very patient with one another, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.Priests must be especially merciful, he added, saying if that they weren't, then they should ask their bishop for a desk job and "n

"Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must not call themselves a church; they must call themselves museums," he said.