Participants expressed support for proposals to ordain women deacons and warned of the deadly consequences of climate change.

The new saints include three women religious who cared for the poor and the sick, a laywoman mystic and the most significant English Catholic theologian of modern times.

Archbishop Marino comes to his new post with considerable diplomatic experience in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, including 11 years of service in three majority-Muslim states and seven years working in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

Bishop Kräutler said there are thousands of indigenous communities in the Amazon that “do not celebrate the Eucharist except perhaps one, two or three times a year.” The bishops in favor of ordaining married men, he said, “are not against celibacy. We just want these brothers and sisters of ours not to have just a celebration of the word but also the celebration of the Eucharist.”

The general relator of this special synod, emphasized several themes of Pope Francis’ pontificate: the church must “throw open her doors”; “true tradition” is “the church’s living history”; and “God always brings newness,” so “one must not fear what is new.”

Pope Francis said the synod’s way is to “bring us close to consider the Amazon reality with this pastoral heart, with the eyes of disciples and missionaries.”