Just days before the Amazon synod of bishops is to convene in Rome, a symposium of students of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI published a statement of concern regarding the possibility of married priests, a controversial topic of discussion at the upcoming synod. “The vocation as well as the existence of the priest are solely dependent upon the will of Jesus Christ alone and are not derived from either human considerations or Church regulations. In Him and with Him the Priest becomes the ‘proclaimer of the Word and the servant of joy,’” the students said in a public statement September 28.

“As the priest only exists from his relationship with Christ, a participation in the lifestyle of Christ would seem to be appropriate for those who are to act his person,” the statements added.

To help the Church grow in love and faithful witness to God, Pope Francis has declared the third Sunday in Ordinary Time to be dedicated to the word of God.

Salvation, faith, unity and mercy all depend on knowing Christ and sacred Scripture, he said in a new document.

Devoting a special day “to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God” will help the Church “experience anew how the risen Lord opens up for us the treasury of his word and enables us to proclaim its unfathomable riches before the world,” the pope said.

The declaration to have a “Sunday of the Word of God” was made in a new document, given motuproprio, on the pope’s own initiative. Its title, AperuitIllis, is based on a verse from the Gospel of St. Luke, “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

“The relationship between the risen Lord, the community of believers and sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians,” the pope said in the apostolic letter, released by the Vatican Sept. 30, the feast of St. Jerome, patron saint of biblical scholars.

“The Bible cannot be just the heritage of some, much less a collection of books for the benefit of a privileged few. It belongs above all to those called to hear its message and to recognize themselves in its words,” the pope wrote.

“The Bible is the book of the Lord’s people, who, in listening to it, move from dispersion and division toward unity” as well as come to understand God’s love and become inspired to share it with others, he added.

Without the Lord who opens people’s minds to his word, it is impossible to understand the Scriptures in depth, yet “without the Scriptures, the events of the mission of Jesus and of his church in this world would remain incomprehensible,” he wrote.

Archbishop RinoFisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, told Vatican News Sept. 30 that added emphasis on the importance of the word of God is needed because “the overwhelming majority” of Catholics are not familiar with sacred Scripture. For many, the only time they hear the word of God is when they attend Mass, he added.

“The Bible is the most widely distributed book, but it also perhaps the one most covered in dust because it is not held in our hands,” the archbishop said.

One of the Catholic sisters taking part in the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops for the Amazon has called for women religious attending the gathering to be granted the right to vote, saying their status as non-voting participants has been a “strong topic” of discussion.

Medical Mission Sr. Birgit Weiler, one of 20 sisters participating in the synod, noted that while a lay brother was appointed to attend as a voting member, the sisters were not.

“Pope Francis already made it possible, saying it’s not necessary to receive ordination to priesthood to be able to vote when you have participated fully in the whole process of sharing faith, of discerning together,” said Weiler, a Peruvian theologian.

“We hope very much that something can happen there,” she said during an Oct. 11 press briefing. “There is no real reason why not, because when the brethren can vote, women religious are equal.”

The issue of women’s voting has emerged as an issue in the past three Synods of Bishops, as Francis each time appointed one or two lay brothers as a voting member, but appointed the sisters attending as non-voting auditors or experts.

According to the Catholic Church’s theology, brothers and sisters have analogous roles. They are each non ordained, professed members of religious orders.

Several groups have organized petitions and hosted demonstrations in Rome to call attention to the issue.

Weiler, who is part of the Peruvian bishops’ commission for social action, said the topic had come up in past days in the small working group she was assigned to participate in during the synod. Those groups are known by the Italian term circoliminori (“small circles”). “In our circle, it has been a topic and a strong topic and has been cited by several bishops,” she said.

John Henry Newman should be considered a Doctor of the Church who ranks alongside early Christianity’s great thinkers, a senior cardinal has argued.

In a powerfully argued speech ahead of Newman’s canonisation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and a respected theologian, said the new English saint was eligible thanks to his contribution to the development of Christian teaching. Doctors of the Church are saints who have helped deepen understanding of the faith. Just 36 men and women have been elevated to the position in Christian history.

“It seems to me that the English master ranks among such Doctors of the Faith as Athanasius and Augustine, whose lives were confessions of faith at the cost of great sacrifice, and who provided decisive insights on either its content or its act,” the 75-year-old Canadian cardinal said during a speech at the Casino Pio IV, in the Vatican gardens.

Newman was canonised in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square on 13th October, along with four others. To mark the event the British Embassy to the Holy See hosted an event to celebrate his life.

Saints are people who recognized their need for God’s help, who took risks to discover God’s will and to help others and who nurtured a habit of thanksgiving, Pope Francis said.

“The culmination of the journey of faith is to live a life of continual thanksgiving. Let us ask ourselves: Do we, as people of faith, live each day as a burden, or as an act of praise?” the pope said in his homily Oct. 13 after formally declaring five new saints for the Catholic Church.

Those canonized at the Mass were: St. John Henry Newman, the British theologian, poet and cardinal who died in 1890; Brazilian St Maria Rita Lopes Pontes, popularly known as Sister Dulce, who died in 1992; Indian St Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family, who died in 1926; St Marguerite Bays, a Swiss laywoman and mystic, who died in 1879; and St Josephine Vannini, the Italian co-founder of the Daughters of St Camillus, who died in 1911.

“Three of them were religious women,” the pope noted in his homily. “They show us that the consecrated life is a journey of love at the existential peripheries of the world.”

“St Marguerite Bays, on the other hand, was a seamstress; she speaks to us of the power of simple prayer, enduring patience and silent self-giving,” he said.

The Prince of Wales has commended Cardinal John Henry Newman as a saint for our times, suggesting in an article that his example as a harmoniser of differences, of inclusivity and respect, “is needed more than ever.” Writing ahead of his visit to Rome, where he will attend Newman’s canonisation as the head of the British delegation, Prince Charles says Newman stood “for the life of the spirit” and against forces that debase human dignity and destiny.

“In the age in which he attains sainthood, his example is needed more than ever – for the manner in which, at his best, he could advocate without accusation, could disagree without disrespect and, perhaps most of all, could see differences as places of encounter rather than exclusion,” says the Prince. The article, which appears also today in Italian in L’Osservatore Romano, reveals a deep familiarity with and respect for Newman, who tomorrow will become the first English saint of modern times. It will be published in full in the print edition of The Tablet next week.

Recalling the climax of Newman’s famous spiritual poem The Dream of Gerontius, when the soul glimpses the harmony of the divine vision, Prince Charles writes: “Harmony requires difference. The concept rests at the very heart of Christian theology in the concept of the Trinity.” This revelation of the Trinity, the Prince says, shows that “difference is not to be feared.”

He goes on to write: “In the image of divine harmony which Newman expressed so eloquently, we can see how, ultimately, as we follow with sincerity and courage the different paths to which conscience calls us, all our divisions can lead to a greater understanding and all our ways can find a common home.”

Describing Newman as “a great Briton,” Prince Charles notes in particular his significance for “those who seek the divine in what can seem like an increasingly hostile intellectual environment find in him a powerful ally who championed the individual conscience against an overwhelming relativism.” Elsewhere in the article Prince Charles pays tribute to the contribution of the Catholic community to British society, something he describes as being “immeasurably valuable.”