Synod: Beauty of marriage and Christ’s warning against worldly mentality must be remembered
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Relatio post disceptationem presented yesterday by Cardinal Erdo, General Rapporteur of the Synod is just a "working document". This point was reiterated today at the briefing for journalists held in the Holy See Press Office, referring to a statement from the General Secretariat of the Synod which summarizes " hat it is a working document, which summarizes the interventions and debate of the first week, and is now being offered for discussion by the members of the Synod gathered in the Small Groups", currently in progress.
It was further underlined by the synthesis of the interventions which followed the Reports presentation yesterday,
which stated " while the Church must welcome those in
difficulty, it would be useful to speak more widely about those families who
remain faithful to the teachings of the Gospel, thanking them and encouraging
them for the witness they offer. From the Synod it emerged more clearly that
indissoluble, happy marriage, faithful for ever, is beautiful, possible and
present in society, therefore avoiding a near-exclusive focus on imperfect
family situations". Still, it was stated that "it is necessary to clarify and explore more
deeply the theme of "gradualness", that may give rise to confusion.
With regard to access to the sacraments for divorced and remarried persons, for
instance, it was said that it is difficult to accept exceptions unless in
reality they become a common rule". It was also noted that the word "sin"
is almost absent from the Relatio. The prophetic tone of Jesus' words
was also mentioned, to avoid the risk of conformity to the mentality of today's
world". And finally,"in relation to homosexuals, moreover,
the need for welcome was highlighted, but with the just produced, so that the
impression of a positive evaluation of such a tendency on the part of the Church
is not created. The same care was advised with regard to cohabitation".
Returning to the briefing today, given by Cardinals Fernando Filoni, Prefect
of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples and Wilfrid
Fox Napier, Archbishop
of Durban, South Africa, Father
Federico Lombardi, director of
the press, announced that "the work of the Working Groups will be presented
to the Congregation on Thursday morning". "It 's expected
- he added - that the synthesis
of the Working Groups will be made public," so far as it is overall
view presented by the "Relatio ante," the "Relatio post", and the summary of discussions of the Working Groups that
go to form the "Relatio Synodi" which
will be presented to the Pope.
The idea of the Small
Groups, the speakers noted,
is to present the Pope with a result
that will act as a "basis"
for the third part of the process of the Synod of the family, the ordinary
assembly of bishops that will take place next year. Only then will "definitive
pronouncements" be made on the issues under examination.
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