An unnoticed Vatican promotion last month gives the strongest hint of how the Pope plans to press the reform agenda Pope Francis, on 1 April this year, addressed a letter to Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general ­secretary of the Synod of Bishops, informing the cardinal of his decision “to raise the undersecretary of the synod, Fabio Fabene, to the dignity of bishop”. The ­Vatican made the communication public but the media found little to report and the ­analysts nothing much to comment on. Yet that brief letter may well be to date one of the most significant documents of the ­present pontificate. In it, Francis announced his intent and committed himself to move towards collegial government.To understand and appreciate the full meaning of the event, we must re