With the opening day of the third Synod of Bishops under Pope Francis, and despite the seemingly anodyne subject - “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment” - it’s potentially the most significant summit so far on this pope’s watch.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the bishops are gathering in Rome in a moment in which the Church faces perhaps its gravest crisis since the Protestant Reformation in the form of the worldwide clerical sexual abuse scandals, and the eyes of the Catholic world will be on how they choose to engage it.

Here are 10 good reasons to shout for joy that we are Catholic.

1. The Blessed Mother. She was at the foot of the cross and understands how to console suffering victims and still love the wayward. And through the rosary, our Blessed Mother can do some real damage to the evil one.

2. We get to call out sin. Sin has to be done in secret or we’ll notice because we aren’t the sort of church that says, “Yeah, so what?” Sure, there’s some mind bending going on, but we’ve got the teachings and know how to use them.

Pope Francis asks, on Saturday, September 29, for a special prayer in the Marian month of October to ask for protection from those who seek to divide and to ask for evil not to prevail

In a joint statement, the Vatican and the Beijing government announce that an agreement has been signed, presenting it as “the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement” and expressing the desire that the “agreement may favour a fruitful and forward-looking process of institutional dialogue”

Francis’ apostolic constitution secures the method followed in recent years: more consultation of the “people of Godˮ, extra care to the implementation phase after the assemblies. The final document, if approved by the Pope, “participates in the ordinary Magisterium”

Pope Francis on September 18, 2018, published an “Episcopalis communion” (Apostolic Constitute) to update the structure of the Synod of Bishops first set forth by Pope Paul VI in 1965.

The new document was presented at a press conference in Rome and comes less than a month before the start of Synod 2018, which runs October 3-28, 2018. The synod is on the theme: Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.

Following is the text of the speech made by the Holy Father on Friday, September 14, addressing Catholic Charitable Organizations who have been holding the sixth meeting for coordinating the Church’s response to the crisis in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring countries:

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I greet all of you warmly and thank you for taking part in this sixth meeting for coordinating the Church’s response to the crisis in Iraq, Syria and neighboring countries, a meeting which this year includes also the Section for Migrants and Refugees.

“In his Holy Rule, St. Benedict ordained that the fasts for religious begin with the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The long-extended Easter joy and the solemn feasts of summer culminating in the crowning of the Queen of Heaven could possibly cause the image of the Crucified to fade in us or to recede, as it remained hidden during the first centuries of Christianity.

First mass in Santa Marta after the summer break and the recent scandals of the Viganò dossier: “There are those who seek division and destruction, even within the family. Truth is humble and silent”.

Following is the homily by Monsignor Joseph McGuinness, diocesan administrator at the solemn evening prayer for the opening of the World Meeting of Families at St Macartan’s Cathedral, Monaghan on 21 August 2018:

My Dear Friends,