The hostile reaction of Catholic progressives to comments made by Pope Francis during his brief trip to Belgium regarding the role of women and abortion was very telling — especially in the context of this week’s launch of the final session of the Synod on Synodality.

The acrimonious response was wildly out of proportion to what the Holy Father had to say on both topics and to the secondary priority he assigned to them during his visit. His abortion remarks were made in the context of highlighting the pro-life witness of Belgium’s King Baudouin, who temporarily abdicated his throne in 1990 so that he would not be forced to assent to a government bill legalizing abortion.

Francis praised the late monarch’s decision to “leave his place as king in order not to sign a murderous law.” And, referencing proposed legislation that would further broaden access to abortion, he urged contemporary Belgians to reflect on their former king’s courageous action at a time when “criminal laws are still being made.”

This reminder about the responsibility of Catholics to oppose pro-abortion legislation was harshly condemned by some local commentators as impermissible papal meddling in Belgium’s domestic affairs.

The response to the Pope’s comments about the role of women in the Church, made during his trip to the Catholic University of Louvain, was even more hyperbolic. Lauding womanhood’s “fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication,” Francis stressed that women hold a place of precedence within the Church, based not on the specific offices they occupy within its institutional hierarchy but instead on its fundamentally feminine nature.

“What characterizes women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies,” he said, “just as dignity itself is ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts.”

Clearly primed for a spat beforehand, the Catholic university’s administration issued a critical press release as soon as the Holy Father finished speaking. Castigating his remarks as “conservative” and “deterministic and reductive,” the university proclaimed “its incomprehension and disapproval of the position expressed by Pope Francis regarding the role of women in the Church and in society.”

Obviously, the Pope’s benign observations didn’t merit this predetermined venting of vitriol. So why were some local Catholics determined to target the Holy Father? The overarching explanation is their criticisms reflect the depressing reality that the local Church has been almost completely overwhelmed by contemporary Belgium’s pervasive secularization.

But it was no coincidence of the timing of all this: The Pope was directly targeted about the role of women in the Church right before the Synod on Synodality commenced on Tuesday. Ecclesiastical progressives in Belgium, like their counterparts in other Western countries, are deeply aggrieved over the fact that Francis recently slammed shut the doctrinal door with respect to the sacramental ordination of women.

They are also unhappy that the synod’s organizers were forced to shift further discussion of women’s ordination, and other preferred progressive agendas like outreach to LGBT individuals, away from the final synod gathering, thereby depriving progressives of an opportunity to claim that their agendas have won endorsement from a global Church process. Because of this, they disrespectfully sought to embarrass Francis during his stay in their nation.

The good news is that the Pope was not dismayed by their criticism, defending his remarks forcefully when questioned by reporters during his return flight back to Rome on Sunday.

“I always talk about the dignity of women,” he said. “I said something that I cannot say about men: The Church is woman; she is the bride of Jesus. To masculinize women is not human. Women, I always say, are more important than men because the Church is the bride of Jesus.”

The even better news is that he indicated immediately ahead of his return that he does not intend to allow the Church’s progressive faction to hijack the concluding stage of the Synod on Synodality.

“The synodal process must involve returning to the Gospel,” he said in an address to bishops, clergy, religious and pastoral workers in Brussels. “It is not about prioritizing ‘fashionable’ reforms, but asking: ‘How can we bring the Gospel to a society that is no longer listening or has distanced itself from the faith?’ Let us all ask ourselves this question.”

Still, despite the Holy Father’s admonition, it’s not an assured outcome that the synod’s final document will steer completely clear of advocating for the “fashionable” reforms he warned against. Continued vigilance will be required from synod delegates, to ensure they deliver what the Church actually wants and needs: clarity about how to evangelize more effectively, not campaigning for progressive causes.