Vatican City, Oct 17, 2014 / 12:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Mass on Friday, Pope Francis said eternal life begins when we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and cautioned attendees against “dulling down” this identity by being hypocritical... Read more

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2014 / 11:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The synod’s small groups released their conclusions regarding the meeting’s mid-term report on Thursday, calling for clarification of several phrases and a more positive look at the family in light of scripture. Among other topics, three common and primary themes appeared to be of more immediate concern to the synod fathers: the absence of any reference to the Gospel of the Family, and more widely to Gospel references, in the text; the need to emphasize positive examples of Christian families; and the request to remove, or at least clarify, the principle of graduality, which they said may lead to confusion. Synod fathers were divided into 10 groups which worked in four different languages: there were three Italian-speaking groups, three English, two Spanish, and two French. The texts of the small groups' conclusions were released Oct. 16. One of the first things called for in almost all of the groups was a new introduction to the original relatio, in which the family would be placed “within the context of the great gift of the Sacrament of Matrimony and the grace of God freely given through the sacraments,” as the first English group, moderated by Cardinal Raymond Burke, put it. The groups asked that a greater theological and anthropological foundation be given at the beginning, which is needed in order to address the more serious issues that would be mentioned later. “We have addressed these issues within the context of Scripture and the remarkably rich Magisterium of the Church,” the first English-speaking group wrote, saying they want the final Synod document to speak of human life, marriage and family life “as we know it to be revealed to us by God through reason and faith, both aided by the grace of God.” References clearly stressing the centrality of the Word of God and the beauty of the Gospel of Marriage must be the focal point for the entire final report, they said. Groups also expressed the need to present a more positive vision of the family in the final relatio, with the third English-speaking group, chaired by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, saying, “we strongly felt that the tone of the entire document should express our confidence in marriage.” The original document placed “too much emphasis on the problems facing the family,” the second English-speaking group, headed by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, said. They stressed the need “to provide an enthusiastic message which would encourage and inspire hope.” Although a synod reflecting on pastoral challenges to the family naturally denotes talking about situations of brokenness and pain, “we should not fall into the trap of thinking, or in some way conveying that marriage and family are a failure, no longer appropriate to our times,” they continued. The group spoke of how the final document could draw significant richness from the testimonies of the lay couples who gave their testimonies, saying that as it stands, “a young person reading the relatio would, if anything, become even less enthusiastic about undertaking the challenging vocation of Christian matrimony.” The final document, they noted, ought to be directed to the youth in particular, in order to help them better understand and be attracted to the Christian vision of marriage and family life in a world full of contradictions. Greater emphasis should be given, they said, to those families who “despite many challenges and even failures, strive every day to live out faithfully and joyfully their mission and vocation within the Church and society.” Also up for clarification what the original relatio’s reference to the “law of graduality,” often referred to as “gradualism,” which connotes a change that comes about gradually. With a near unanimous vote saying that the original use of the term was not defined clearly enough, the first Italian group, headed by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, explained that after reading the original relatio, synod fathers were not able to find “an adequate and shared interpretation” of the phrase. Used in the context it was, the phrase was “elusive,” and had the danger of implying that “(the) difficulties of married life would lead to a lowering of the full meaning of the vocation of marriage itself.” The first English-speaking group stressed in their conclusions that if used in the final report, the term should be clarified to ensure the reader knows that it does not speak of the graduality “of doctrine on faith and morals, but rather the gradual moral growth of the individual in their actions.” The third English-speaking small group also said that “Gradualness should not make insipid the challenge of the Gospel to conversion, to ‘go and sin no more’, as Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery.” Rather, “The aim of recognizing gradualness should be to draw people closer to Christ,” they observed, explaining that truth and mercy are not mutually exclusive terms, and that by proclaiming the truth the Church also proclaims “the most profound mercy” of reconciliation and unity with God. Other themes brought up by synod fathers in their reports were the need to improve relations with the Orthodox churches, to promote the role and dignity of women, as well as the need to clarify parts of the relatio referring to attitudes the Church should have toward those with same-sex attraction and divorced and remarried Catholics. While clarifying that persons living a homosexual lifestyle are not living according to Church doctrine, synod fathers emphasized that they need to be welcomed “without judgment or condemnation,” and that there needs to be a more inviting language developed that establishes they have a place in the Church. Most of the small groups did not recommend open communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, but recommended that the Church examine “possible paths of repentance and discernment by which, in particular circumstances, a divorced and remarried person might participate in the sacraments,” as one group put it. However it was strongly emphasized that such persons be encouraged to remain a part of the Church through prayer, attending Mass, the practice of virtue, and participation in their communities. Several references were also made to Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae vitae,” on the regulation of birth. It was also highly recommended by several groups to include a stronger reference to Mary and to the Holy Family of Nazareth in the conclusion of the relatio. The Blessed Mother “because of her unique role in the Holy Family of Nazareth and at the wedding feast of Cana, continues to play an important role in the Church,” one English group wrote. In an Oct. 17 press conference, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., said that the synod's final report will be prepared, and then voted upon on Saturday morning. He emphasized, however, that it is unlikely the synod's final relatio will be released by Saturday evening. Read more

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2014 / 11:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Even though the Synod on the Family's midterm relatio was widely criticized by the bishops' small groups, Cardinal Reinhard Marx affirmed it only needs to be balanced, while speaking at Friday's synod press briefing. The Archbishop of Munich and Freising also noted the importance of the document's openings regarding the Church's praxis toward homosexual persons and the divorced and remarried. “There are those who defend the image of a Church who do not want to lose anything (in terms of doctrine), while others are pushing for a different path. The will to find a common ground is needed, and we have it: we have listened to everyone,” the German cardinal said Oct. 17 On the other hand, he stressed that “the (final) document cannot include everything that has been said within the small working groups: it would lead to a huge document.” In the small groups' reports released Thursday at the end of four days of discussion, the synod fathers had strongly criticized the structure of the synod's midterm report. The reports asked that the synod focus more on the positive examples of Christian families; to rewrite the introduction and to more often refer to the Gospel of Family; and also that it adopt a more prudent approach concerning the issues of the divorced and remarried, and homosexuals, in order not to produce confusion among the faithful about Church teaching. Cardinal Marx added that “the Church’s Magisterium is not a static collection of sentences, it is a development. Doctrine is in dialogue with pastoral care. Doctrine is evident, it does not depend on the signs of the times, but it can nevertheless be developed. We cannot change the Gospel. But we have not understood everything yet.” The cardinal insisted that “exclusion is not part of the language of the Church,” and that “the divorced remarried are not second-class Christians.” In an interview prior of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Marx – who is president of the German bishops' conference – had maintained that the majority of the German bishops are favorable to the so-called “Kasper solution,” i.e., Cardinal Kasper’s proposals to permit a wider access to Communion for the divorced and remarried. Cardinal Marx underscored that “Cardinal Kasper has not made a proposal, but he just raised an issue. We don’t have a concrete proposal, but certainly the German bishops' conference goes toward that direction.” He recounted that “the German bishops raised the issue after the clergy sex abuse scandal in 2010,” when they “met and discuss how to regain credibility, to be closer to families… and the theme of the divorced and remarried is very current; many families are involved.” “As bishops, we cannot select our faithful, since they are practicing faithful,” Cardinal Marx maintained. He also stressed that “we German bishops are not isolated, I see many thinking this way.” Though he is a member of the Pope Francis' Council of Cardinals, he said he does not “know what the Pope thinks; we have to wait and see.” But, he added, “if we read Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation ‘Evangelii Gaudium’, we must interpret his thought this way: we have to look at people in the situation they are in.” Cardinal Marx applies this reasoning to same-sex couples. “In the end, we can examine case by case. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is fair: homosexuals are not condemned for their sexual orientation, and their sexual praxis cannot be accepted.” But “not everything can be evaluated in negative terms,” he said. The cardinal raised the example of “homosexuals who have been faithful, one to the other, for 30-35 years, and they take care the one of the other until the very last moment of life. But they live in irregular situation for the Church… as a Church, can I say that all of this has no value because we are speaking about a homosexual relation?” “I cannot say: it’s all black, it’s all white,” Cardinal Marx stated. “And we cannot stand behind the logic of ‘everything or nothing.’” These last words echoed the controversial synod midterm report, which was almost completely dismissed by the synod fathers. Although they underscored the need to foster pastoral care for difficult situations, all the small groups highlighted the importance of highlighting the beauty of the Christian family. “We think that our reflections are above all addressed to Christian families that have the urgent need of being supported in their testimony to find the strength to continue their daily commitment in a context certainly not easy or favorable to them,” one of the Italian small group's report stressed. Read more

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2014 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In synod discussions last week, the Baltic nation of Latvia caught the attention many synod fathers, who were keen to hear why the number of divorces among their Catholic population is so low. “In Latvia, it is a pity, but we have the highest number of divorces: 86 percent of marriages are divorced civil marriages. But when our civil mass media started to check how it is in the Church, they discovered that we just have 16 percent, and they asked why,” Archbishop Zbignev Stankevics of Riga told CNA Oct. 9. Archbishop Stankevics explained that such a low number of divorces inside the Church is due in part to a “serious preparation for marriage, because we have an obligatory course for persons who want to get married in the Church.” On the other hand, the archbishop explained that although there is naturally a greater sense of responsibility among people who seek sacramental marriage, “people who have faith don‘t resign when they meet the first difficulties during their married life.” “For this reason, also, they are fighting for the survival of their family,” he observed. Other bishops who listened to Archbishop Stankevics' report, which he gave to the synod Oct. 8, said they were at first saddened by study’s initial report of 86 percent of Latvia’s marriages ending in divorce. However, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told journalists at an Oct. 8 event in Rome that his ears perked when the archbishop spoke of the findings in phase two of the study, which revealed the low number of divorces among Catholics in Latvia. Cardinal Dolan recalled the archbishop’s speech, saying that in it he explained that after the second set of results were released for this study Latvia had a “renewed sense from people who never give the Church a nod.” People who never said much good about the Church or only looked at the matter with a sociological or economic perspective were suddenly telling themselves, “maybe we ought to look at what they’re doing. They have success here,” the cardinal recounted. In this context, questions were raised among other synod participants as to what the Church in Latvia is doing to prepare married couples, as well as what specific characteristics the couples bring to their marriage that makes so many of them last while many outside of the Church “are crumbling.” Also present at the Oct. 9 event was Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, who said he was also a bit surprised by the high number of lasting marriages in the country. The numbers, he said, although eyebrow raising for many, are in fact compatible with numerous sociological studies exploring the advantages of being a religious, practicing individual, particularly in the Church. Despite the various issues that families currently face, including divorce, polygamy, finances, etc., there are no long faces in the synod hall, Cardinal Pell explained. “There’s no handwringing, there’s no feeling that we’re beaten or done,” he observed, especially given the resources the Church today has in comparison to past times of great persecution. “I always think of the Ancient Roman Empire, who was immensely more hostile to Christianity than our present situation,” he said. “They had none of the advantages that we have, no great colleges, etc., and they didn’t do too badly.”Marta Jimenez contributed to this piece. Read more

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2014 / 04:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Innacurate media reports about Church teaching on homosexuality published after the synod's midterm relatio are an attempt to pressure the Church to change its perennial teaching, a cardinal who is also a synod father has affirmed. Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, emphasized to CNA Oct. 16 that “what has been published by the media about homosexual unions is an attempt to push the Church (to change) her doctrine.” “The Church has never judged homosexual persons, but homosexual behavior and homosexual unions are grave deviations of sexuality,” the cardinal, who is from the west African nation of Guinea, added. Among the criticisms of the synod's midterm report was the absence of some important statements, a point raised especially by some of the bishops from Africa. Cardinal Sarah affirmed, however, that “some very important topics are reported in the relatio,” as for example “the Church’s refusal to promote policies linked to gender (theory) in exchange for financial aid.” “This has been explicitly said in Cardinal Erdo’s relatio, and it is a relevant issue for developing countries as well as for the western countries,” the cardinal stressed. Cardinal Sarah denounced the “government and some international organizations attempting to suppress the notion of te natural family, based on the man-woman relation; and the Church cannot be silent.” The relatio read that it is not “acceptable that the pastor’s outlook be pressured or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations based on gender ideology.” Cardinal Sarah said, “there is no Christian family without a glance to Jesus, who Incarnated in a family with a father and a mother.” This is the reason why, he added, “the reference to Christ is needed, in order to avoid that the Christian vision is reduced to an ideology, and that we are obliged to take stances in contrast with the Magisterium, the history of the Church, and, above all, with the truth of the Gospel.” The lack of any reference to the Gospel of the Family has been highlighted with concern by all the small groups that discussed the midterm relatio during this week. Likewise, the small groups have highlighted the need to rewrite the section “Providing for homosexual persons.” The second English small group, moderated by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, stressed that “the Church must continue to promote the revealed nature of marriage as always between one man and one woman united in lifelong, life-giving, and faithful communion.” Cardinal Sarah reiterated this, and explained why the Church cannot endorse same-sex unions. “Based on the Sacred Scriptures, the Tradition of the Church has always stated that ‘the acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered, since they are against the natural law, and preclude the gift of life. They cannot be approved in any case',” Cardinal Sarah maintained, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The cardinal then recalled St. John Paul II, when he questioned whether the push for homosexual unions are “part of a new ideology of evil.” With this affirmation, Cardinal Sarah filled in the “blanks” of the relatio, which he described as “a working document which partially mirrors the discussion.” Cardinal Sarah shared that the delivery of this working document “aroused general surprise, since the document had to be finished, polished, and (would) lead to the final draft of a text that must be approved by the synod fathers.” “Does anyone wants to destabilize the Church and undermine its teaching?” Cardinal Sarah asked. “Let us pray for those pastors who leave the Lord’s sheep to the wolves of decadent and secularized society, far from God and nature. Sexuality is not a cultural fact, but a natural fact,” he concluded. Read more

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2014 / 03:34 pm (CNA).- The president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, denied on Thursday afternoon that he made any statements against African bishops, but audio to that effect was soon produced. On Wednesday, Zenit had run an article by Edward Pentin which included an interview with the cardinal in which he had said that Catholics in Africa “should not tell us too much what we have to do.” According to the Austrian Catholic agency Kath.net, Cardinal Kasper responded the following day: "I'm shocked. I have never spoken against Africans in this way, and I never would speak like that. I note: nobody has approached me in these days and weeks from Zenit asking for an interview.” Cardinal Kasper also announced that he would ask Zenit to clarify. In the summary of Zenit’s interview, kath.net had pointed out from the beginning that there was uncertainty whether the interview had been actually authorized by the cardinal. Zenit took down the interview from its site, but Edward Pentin issued a statement confirming its validity. "His Eminence Cardinal Walter Kasper spoke to me and two other journalists, one British, the other French, around 7.15pm on Tuesday as he left the Synod hall,” Pentin wrote Thursday at his own website. “I transcribed the recording of our conversation, and my iPhone on which I recorded the exchange was visible. I introduced myself as a journalist with the (National Catholic) Register, and the others also introduced themselves as journalists. I therefore figured the interview was on the record and His Eminence appeared happy to talk with us. In the end, I posted the full interview in ZENIT rather than the Register. ZENIT removed the article on Thursday in response to Cardinal Kasper’s denial.” “His Eminence made no comment about not wanting his remarks published. It depends on the context, but normally in such a situation, comments are considered on the record unless otherwise requested." Following this statement, Pentin posted both the audio recording of the interview, and a transcript. “If there was a misunderstanding, I apologise,” Pentin concluded, “but I stand by the interview that was published as a correct account of the exchange.” Read more