Pope Francis said he wanted to respond to a "storm of chattering" that had developed around his expansion of synod membership.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine chief, announced today that “based on the analysis so far…there is still no room for a positive decision” on ordaining women deacons.

“Those who arrogantly claim to have the exclusive right to hear the voice of the Lord cannot hear it,” Pope Francis said at the opening Mass of the Synod on Synodality.

The Catholic Church cannot be credible in its mission of proclaiming Christ unless it acknowledges its mistakes and bends down “to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins,” Pope Francis said.

German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, a former Vatican doctrinal chief, cast sharp criticism on the Synod on Synodality days ahead of the synod’s second and final session starting Oct. 2.

The Vatican’s decision to expel 10 important members from the once-powerful Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a scandal-plagued society of apostolic life founded in Peru in 1971, was received with shock by many in Peru.