Pope’s big meeting on women and the future of the church wraps up — with some final jabs

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ monthlong meeting on the future of the Catholic Church is wrapping up. Delegates are voting on a final document on the role of women and how the church can better respond to the needs of the faithful today. Organizers and participants alike have tried to temper expectations for any big changes to emerge, especially on hot-button doctrinal issues such as the church’s views on homosexuality. And they have insisted that the mere process of forcing bishops to sit down at round tables to listen to ordinary Catholics for a month was in itself the important novelty of the gathering.