I was intrigued by the words of Pope Francis at the opening of the Synod of bishops in Rome on Sunday to discuss family issues. He told the bishops to stop the bickering between progressives and conservatives. “Synod assemblies are not meant to discuss beautiful and clever ideas or to see who is more intelligent,” he told them.

He meant, of course: why don’t you come down from your lofty world and get to basics, to the proper teachings of Christ whose message was always simple and down to earth?

Christ never sought to impress people by speaking over their heads. His parables are extraordinary by the ease and straightforwardness of their message. The complications came later by superior people in their rarified world.

At last, someone in very high authority in the Church is breathing fresh air on stale endless discussions.

No wonder surveys worldwide are showing that the faithful, especially the young, are straying away from the Church.

Malta is not exempted from this trend as shown by the survery carried out in 2005 by the Church itself, which confirms “an unrelenting decline in Sunday Mass attendances...”, a true measure of the overall situation if ever there was one.

Catholic social teaching is meant to guide people in their lives on the teachings of Christ.

Whether Pope Francis’s courageous efforts will be successful or not is a matter which only time will tell. Students of history, however, know that the Church has been in worse circumstances and has come out triumphantly in the end. Christ has promised that he will lead it to the end of time but who is listening in the meantime to his entreating words?

His message is truly simple and uncomplicated, much like that of Pope Francis himself.