[Catholic Caucus] Doubling Down Amazon Synod organizers touch on hot-button issues in first press conference Ecology, indigenous spirituality, roles of women, environmentalism — all were brought up at today's Holy See press conference on the eve of the Amazon Synod. Brazilian Cdl. Claudio Hummes, personally chosen by Pope Francis to lead the synod, summed up the controversial aspects, saying the Church "must listen to the cry of the earth and that of the poor." Among those voices, he says, are those of Amazonian women, leaders in their communities, who wish to have a more institutionalized role in the Church — code language for women's ordination. On...