Published October 29, 2014

FILE -- In this file photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Oct. 28, 2014, Pope Francis speaks to participants of the Global Meeting of Popular Movements, at the Vatican. Pope Francis has made some of the most important policy speeches of his pontificate in recent days, catching up for lost time following months of attention to bureaucratic reform and the convulsive meeting of bishops on family issues that just ended. Often speaking in his native Spanish, Francis has focused on issues close to his heart, pontificating at length about the plight of the poor and unemployed, the environment and even evolution, seemingly emboldened to speak his mind on topics that must make even some of his closest collaborators squirm. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)(The Associated Press)

FILE -- In this file photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Oct. 27, 2014, Pope Francis is flanked by Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Mons. Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, during the unveiling of a bronze bust of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, at the Vatican. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI spent his entire pontificate elaborating on the compatibility of faith and scientific reason, insisting that the cosmos isn't a system of random chaos but rather an organized system where the hand of the Creator is obvious. St. John Paul II and Pope Pius XII voiced similar conclusions before him. Pope Francis put the churchs thinking in his own words: "The Big Bang, which today is considered the origin of the world, doesn't contradict the intervention of a divine creator but requires it," he said. "Evolution in nature doesn't contradict the notion of creation because evolution presupposes the creation of beings who evolve." (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)(The Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has made some of the most important policy speeches of his pontificate in recent days, catching up for lost time following months of attention to bureaucratic reform and the turbulent meeting of bishops on family issues that just ended.

Often speaking in his native Spanish, Francis has focused on issues close to his heart, pontificating at length about the plight of the poor and unemployed, the environment and even evolution, seemingly emboldened to speak his mind on topics that must make even some of his closest collaborators squirm.

He hasn't changed church doctrine. But he has pushed the envelope on some issues, raised eyebrows with his blunt speaking style on others, and made clear where his progressive social priorities lie. Here are some highlights from a busy week at the Vatican, with issues that Francis might raise again when he makes a major policy speech to the European Parliament next month.

SILENT DEATH PENALTY

In his most explosive speech to a group of penal lawyers, Francis went well beyond the Vatican's previous opposition to capital punishment by denouncing life prison terms as a "hidden death penalty." Francis' outreach to prisoners is well-known: He famously washed the feet of juvenile delinquents Muslims and women among them at a Rome detention center during his first Holy Thursday as pope. In his speech last week, Francis denounced prison systems as "out of control" for depriving people of their dignity, citing recourse to the death penalty, detaining people without charge or conviction and holding inmates in isolation, which he called a form of "physical and psychological torture." Putting him squarely at odds with the United States, where he is going next year, Francis also denounced extraordinary renditions, which the CIA used after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to take terror suspects to third countries for interrogation.

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BIG BANG

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Pope maps out personal (and progressive) policy in series of speeches now that synod is over