I know perfectly well what they're claiming this synod is about. I'm saying their (the liberal bishops) real goal is to implement progressive reforms using the synodal process as the justification. This is what I believe they want:
- To open the priesthood to married men and allowing the already ordained to marry.
- To open the diaconate to women. (Opening the priesthood and episcopate to them would be a more distant reform).
- To open communion to the civilly remarried. (More or less already achieved).
- Intercommunion with Protestants, particularly the Lutherans and Anglicans.
- The overturning and reformulation of Catholic sexual ethics including the acceptance of homosexuality as a positive good.
- A further clampdown on not only the TLM but also on the Novus Ordo said with traditional elements. (Ad orientem, Latin, altar rails, ect).
How much of this the liberal bishops will get before Francis dies is not something I can predict. I. and II. were meant to be achieved by the Amazon synod, with V. being the project of the current synod. So far only III. has been implemented and even then only tacitly rather than officially. VI. can be pursued whenever while IV. seems to be a mostly German obsession, but perhaps it's something a future synod can attempt.
It could be that the Holy Spirit is blocking Francis from going though with most of the above, hence the failure of I. and II. (so far) and the delay on V. until at least next year. So I await to see what Francis ends up actually doing and that's assuming he lives to October next year. I wouldn't be surprised if he extends the synod indefinitely to make implementing anything his successor's problem.