Catholic bishops compromise on divisive family issues

The approved text calls for a case-by-case approach.

“The experience of the synod”, the pope said, “has made us understand better that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who defend its letter, but its spirit; not ideas, but people; not formulas, but the free gift of God’s love and forgiveness”.

The final communiqué, while a significant bellwether of the hierarchy’s thinking, nevertheless amounts only to a recommendation to Francis.

The conservative Voice of the Family group said the meeting had left a “a crisis of trust” between the faithful and Church leaders over the opening to divorcees, which it said would lead to “the scandalizing of the faithful, not least our children and grandchildren”.

The top USA diplomat said the steps include video monitoring and Israel’s reaffirming of Jordan’s special and historic role as custodian of the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif.

Bishop Murry was among 45 prelates appointed by the pope to attend the synod. Many were appointed by Pope Francis’ more conservative predecessors.

Expectations – and accusations – ran high as bishops attempted to grapple with competing priorities, including the tricky theological terrain of how to balance mercy with judgment.

The synod also discussed the possibility of more sensitive language toward gay Catholics, reported The Australian nbut it appears there are significantly opposing fronts in the Church that can not at this time be bridged.

Currently, Catholics who remarry without obtaining an annulment of their first marriage are not allowed to serve as godparents, participate in the Mass as readers or officially teach the faith as catechists. They are also barred from receiving Holy Communion, the church’s chief sacrament.

“Certainly, the Synod was not about settling all the issues having to do with the family”, said Pope Francis, according to a translation by Vatican Radio, of his expectations heading into the conference.

This too “can be a danger for us, Francis said”. The document also recognized the “dignity” of homosexuals, while also saying there was not even a “remote” similarity between same-sex unions and “God’s design on matrimony and family”.

“The doctrine is clear”, Schoenborn said.

“Some will be disappointed”, he told journalists in Rome.

“He said the Synod had heard that what is normal for one bishop is not for another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another”, depending on the social context.

The Holy Father focused on the way the story dramatizes the need for all of us in the Church to make sure that our desires are ordered to Christ, and then to be confident in approaching Him with humility as we ask Him for every blessing – even as we are mindful of all He has done for us, and desirous of sharing the Good News with those, who need it most.

This “spirituality of illusion”, he said, makes one capable of developing world views without accepting “what the Lord places before our eyes”. “This is the way adults work; and he is calling us to be an adult church”.

It acknowledges issues such as polygamy, mixed marriages and civil marriages.

Pope Francis blesses a woman in Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican.

While the pope said the church had proved it is not afraid of “lively and frank discussions about the family”, he also said a few bishops took part “in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, hard cases and wounded families”.

“Moments of suffering and conflict are for God occasions of mercy”, said the pope.

“I hope and pray that the synod does a lot more than only look at language”.

Following weeks of controversial debate it is thought that doctrine towards divorcees will be softened but there will not be change surrounding how the Church feels about homosexuality.

Under this first temptation, we do not think like Jesus, despite being with him the Pope said. All 94 points received the required two-thirds majority vote.

The report admits that one of the most “serious and urgent needs” of the Christian family is to preserve the link between the generations for the transmission of faith and the fundamental values of life. Only two of the 94 paragraphs showed a disparity in the voting, both of them surrounding the topic of pastoral care for divorced and remarried persons.