It is clear that the Pope is a reformer. But he cannot be easily categorised as either a progressive or a conservative. A theologian argues that the best way of understanding him might be to look at the work of the great French theologian Yves Congar, who developed principles that steer between the extremes of tradition and progress as well as between conservation and innovation At the conclusion of the Vatican Synod on the Family in October 2014, Pope Francis sent a scolding pre-emptive strike against the extreme wings of opposing Catholic camps. His words suggested a path of detente, maybe even disarmament, for the year ahead, as the Church prepares for the synod’s second part in October 2015. This is how he described the two extreme temptations:“One, a temptation to hostil