Pope Francis opened a Synod on the Family by reminding Catholic Church leaders the meeting is not a political convention but a journey on openness and “apostolic courage” leading people to the truth. What is to be done about the sacramental situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics?
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The clash between Vatican officials and a high-ranking clergy member on the eve of the synod has exposed growing fissures in the Church on social and relationship issues that have divided reformists and conservatives.
At the same time, Pope Francis stressed the Catholic Church’s opposition towards abortion, homosexuality, and gay marriage-the same causes championed by conservatives.
But the next paragraph says Catholic dioceses should “devote special attention” to homosexuals and their families.
Sen. Kaine says he feels a personal connection with Pope Francis, who is sharing a message of humility and caring for the common man.
I am writing to you this week from Rome, where we have just begun the second day of the Synod of Bishops on the family, which will run October. 4-25. It was mostly non-Catholics who helped boost that figure; 65 percent of Catholics had a favorable view of the pope, compared with 64 percent back in February.
The Pope also has spoken about has been the theory of evolution.
During last year’s synod, in fact, the Pope added South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, one of the most vocal critics of the progressive tone of an interim text, to the drafting committee.
The Vatican said his very public coming-out put undue media pressure on the synod. He explained that he couldn’t go to Mexico without visiting the Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, and that his itinerary for the US was already quite full.
Cardinal Erdö also discussed the Gospel’s teaching on marriage and described these teachings as a “true gospel and a font of joy” that offer men and women a way to find real happiness and to realize their purposes in the world.
The run-up to the synod has been dominated by gay issues.
And, in a surprisingly frank statement to the joint meeting of the House and Senate, Francis called for an end to the death penalty, a position backed by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, said Bishop Curtis Guillory of the Diocese of Beaumont.
Pope Francis asked people to join him in praying that “the enthusiasm of the synod fathers, animated by the Holy Spirit, would energize the impulse of the church to abandon its old nets and start fishing again, trusting in the word of its Lord”. A few bishops want a change to the rules that bar such people from receiving sacraments.
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The Catholic Church doctrine has been set in stone for years and what is written and it does not change from Pope to Pope no matter what their opinions may be on an issue.
