UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Damian Thompson

The Catholic Church is this week in the biggest mess it’s been in since the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Francis is to blame.

The Vatican cardinals in charge of doctrine, finance and worship are believed to have written to Francis at the beginning of the Synod on the Family – now in its second chaotic week – privately warning him that it was likely to spin out of control. That’s because most of the world’s bishops don’t support any major change to the church’s rules on allowing divorced and remarried people to receive communion, or to the way it treats gay couples. You may think they’re wrong, but that is the situation. Also, the cardinals were exasperated by changes to the synod’s procedures that seemed designed to give undue prominence to liberal voices.

A version of the letter was leaked yesterday. There’s…