Note from the Assistant Editor:

When the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops opened on October 4, it was already clear that there would be three synods: the real synod, the mainstream media synod, and the blogosphere synod.

Pope Francis touched on inter-religious relations, the role of the media, and his favorite memories from Africa.

Peace and renewal were major themes of the Holy Father's visit to the last of the three African countries on his itinerary.

What exactly is a Jubilee and what are its origins?

Everything you ever wanted to know about Holy Doors — what they are, when they are, and why you should walk through one.

Rome's police chief, Nicolo D'Angelo, said at a news conference in November that the tighter security measures were a response to a Jubilee in the time of ISIS.

George Weigel addresses some confusions about the Relatio Finalis through eight bullet-points, based on the original Italian text and informed by his experience of the discussions throughout Synod 2015.

Australian bishops defend the truth about the nature of marriage — according to Catholic teaching — in a fearless 15-page document.

Mother Angelica's health is reportedly in decline. She has been fitted with a feeding tube and has "suffered a great deal" recently.

I could believe that pro-choicers are evil baby-killers, but I like to think they are simply misguided. In fact, I force myself to, because part of citizenship is to look at one's political opponents as human beings, engaged in the same endeavor as me, albeit disagreeing about means.

Allowing abortion businesses to operate without having to adhere to the basic standards required of all ambulatory surgical health facilities clearly places mothers' health at risk, reduces the standard of women's health care, and jeopardizes countless unborn lives.

Evil is evil, but in a democratic society where political change can be sought freely and violence would clearly breed worse evils still, vigilante gestures against institutional evils are just, well, murder: Not acts of heroism, but grotesque wastes of human life.

"Notre Dame embraces a paradigm of the intellectual life that posits the complementarity of faith and reason."

A new procedure that could help women get pregnant raises ethical questions.

Good can come from evil — including the evil enacted before our eyes today in the Middle East.

Chicago Cardinal Francis George introduced Fr Tolton's cause for canonisation in 2011 and the priest was declared a Servant of God.

God had forgiven me, but had I forgiven myself? After all, the prodigal son didn't go back to the father the next day and say: "But father, do you really mean it?" The utter gift of His mercy seemed so large, so uncalled for, given what I'd done.

Chaos seems to be descending upon us with such frequency that, while shaken, we find ourselves paradoxically benumbed; we are surely not indifferent, but these circumstances are beginning to feel so familiar that we are developing an ability to live our lives around them.

Human beings are more resilient than we'd earlier thought. Many people bounce back from hard knocks and experience surges of post-traumatic growth.

I would rather be a nobody in the church founded by Christ than a somebody in a house of cards.

And why the only rational alternative to Catholicism is fatalism-hedonism.