For first time in history, Pope tells bishops to 'listen' to '1.4 billion Catholics all over planet'
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Pope Francis said the Catholic Church needed to be rebuilt to make it a place of welcome for “everyone, everyone, everyone,” as he opened a divisive meeting on the future of the church that has sparked hope among progressives and alarm among conservatives. Francis presided over a solemn Mass in St. Peter's Square to formally open the meeting. But he warned both camps in the church's culture wars to put their “human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles" aside and let the Holy Spirit guide debate. As Pope Francis seeks to make the Catholic Church more welcoming and inclusive, FRANCE 24's Tom Burges Watson is joined by Hendro Munsterman, Journalist and Vaticanwatcher in Rome for the Dutch national daily "Nederlands Dagblad", contributor to La Croix (French) and La Croix International (English), and Professor of Theology and Religious Science in France at University of Grenoble, ITECH (Lyon), HCL (Lyon) and the Catholic dioceses of Grenoble-Vienne, Valence and Viviers.