I wouldn’t exactly put it the way you did. He left highly controversial and flatly rejected passages in the final report. They were noted as rejected, so it’s not like he defied the synod, but it did leave the impression that he had hoped the synod might move in another direction. The other thing that so nails shut the notion of liberals wanting a Vatican III is that the synod exposed all of their tactics, and the fact that the clear majority of bishops present were outraged by them.
I’m afraid Pope Francis is a helpless liberal. The strength of the Catholic church is that it doesn’t much matter to the eternal repository of the faith.
Again, we should not allow ourselves to be perturbed by what we see or hear. We are called to place our COMPLETE trust and confidence in the Lord, our God.
As I see it, Pope Francis is neither liberal nor conservative and this is stirring up both groups. I have NO doubt that the Lord is allowing this for a reason. We pray daily for the Barque of Peter and for our priests, bishops, deacons, seminarians...and place them in God’s hands. He is totally...I say TOTALLY in charge...of doing with them what is best according to HIS plan.
Remember that the promise was made by Jesus Himself...that the gates of hell would NOT prevail. Believe it!
;-)
In the meantime, we should be constantly seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit to grow in wisdom and holiness...that we might bring hope to others.
And he could ultimately choose to disregard the synod, which would be consistent with his autocratic leadership style.
I would posit that everyone needs to go back and look at what he said so CLEARLY at the end of the Synod Meeting. It would also be wise to read his daily homilies. If people actually did this (perhaps after they have finished their daily prayers for the Pope, Clergy, Church, etc.) they would probably be much more at peace.