The bishops offer a brief theological reflection on the biblical basis for welcoming refugees, as well as recent appeals from Pope Francis to welcome the stranger.
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In his closing speech in the synod hall on Saturday, Pope Francis said the October 4-25 meeting of 270 bishops from around the world led to a “rich and lively dialogue”.
The call puts the 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church squarely within the debate on global warming, after Pope Francis earlier this year issued an encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, warning of the consequences of environmental destruction and climate change.
“The Holy Father has expressed the anxiety of us all”, Gracias said. “Don’t just hurl doctrine in their general direction”, Archbishop Coleridge said. Moreover, they reiterated that people should have equal access to clean water and land for them to have sustainable food.
“They would rewrite the teachings of the Church on sexuality, marriage and the family in the light of modern understandings”.
“It’s exploring that hard but crucial middle ground where we can walk together”. In addition, I invite anyone who is interested in learning more about Catholicism to come by St. George Catholic Church and we will assist you in your quest. The Catechism also speaks of the homosexual inclination, or same-sex attraction, as “objectively disordered”, a term that many gays find offensive.
British Cardinal Vincent Nichols said the synod marked a “decisive” moment for the church in reasserting the role that pastoral practice, more than doctrine, must play in accompanying the faithful. They will vote paragraph by paragraph on the text, amending what has been a near-universally scorned draft working document.
“This might be considered a negative of the synod, but I see it as a positive”. “While our world has often seen conflicts like these, we can not simply resign ourselves to the inevitability of this situation”.
This became patently clear with Cardinal Kasper’s response to the final report: “I’m satisfied; the door has been opened to the possibility of the divorced and remarried being granted Communion”.
Brother Herve Janson of the Little Brothers of Jesus told reporters he considered refusing to accept the invitation to participate, given that his status in the church is the same as a sister who heads a religious order of nuns.
Bishops and other full members of the synod voted separately on each paragraph and the Vatican published those votes.
“The synod fathers recommended to the Holy Father that the expedited annulment process be used”, he said, “that it be more commonly used by people rather than saying we’re going to create a completely new way of handling these marriages where there is divorce and civil remarriage”. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.
The cardinal told Vatican Insider, a news site, that although St John Paul called for discernment in those cases, “he didn’t mention all that comes after discernment”.
“One noteworthy element in the synod was its openness to approach families with mercy and compassion since families are already struggling with various temptations”.
Alarms were immediately sounded previous year, and the final report brought things back into line with the Church’s constant teaching. This denies freedom and dynamism to local churches and stymies pastoral efficiency, contextualization of theology and pastoral life, and the coming of the reign of God among God’s people.
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The Catholic Church recognizes a “natural” value in marriage corresponding to the good of the husband and wife, their unity, fidelity and desire for children. But the sacrament of marriage adds another dimension, the report said.
