Pope gives his take on divisive family synod: Bishops may have fought, but not over orthodoxy

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis says bishops spoke their minds, and may have even fought among themselves during a divisive church meeting on family issues. But he says no one questioned church teaching on marriage.

Francis gave his first complete assessment of the October synod during his Wednesday general audience. He praised the attention that the media gave the meeting but complained that it was often portrayed as a sporting event, with factions squaring off, rather than an assembly of bishops with the pope present as a guarantor of orthodoxy.

He sought to diminish the importance given to an interim, summary document that contained a groundbreaking welcome to gay and divorced Catholics, saying it wasn't one of the three official texts.