Producer Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss the second half of the synod, which brings with it concerns with synod methodology and the future of ordained ministry.

A number of assumptions continue to float around the synod that are only partially true or largely false.

Confusion at this stage in the synod may not be a bad thing. As Pope Francis has often said, the Holy Spirit first creates confusion and then brings harmony.

The cry for peace and unity at the synod’s ecumenical vigil struck me as particularly moving at a time of war that has exacerbated the fractures between the three “People of the Book”—Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Cardinal Steiner said they would like to call these women “deaconesses,” but they do not want to “confuse them with the ordained ministry,” and so, for now, they have not found a title that is “suitable.”

We’re now halfway through the four weeks of the second session of the Synod on Synodality. And a fair question to ask is: What have we done?