Help is not on the way. Yesterday, in a cautious optimistic post about this week’s meeting of the College of Cardinals, I observed that “it is difficult to imagine how the consistory could discuss the liturgy without immediately raising the most contentious subject under that heading: the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass under Traditionis Custodes.” Well, the cardinals managed to shatter my hopes immediately. Even before my comments were posted, they had voted to take the topic of liturgy off the agenda for the consistory. Instead the two-day meeting will focus primarily on… wait for it… synodality. Synodality: the same topic that was discussed at the last two meetings of the Synod of Bishops. The same topic that was discussed at an unprecedented number of preparatory meetings, at which Catholics who work for the church talked with each other about how to broaden their conversations. Synodality: a topic that has utterly dominated conversations in ecclesiastical circles for …