{"id":874,"date":"2014-10-19T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=874"},"modified":"2015-10-12T19:48:29","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T17:48:29","slug":"vatican-meeting-on-family-walks-back-liberal-language-on-gay-couples-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/?p=874","title":{"rendered":"Vatican meeting on family walks back liberal language on gay couples, divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michelle Boorstein.\u00a0Amy Brittain contributed to this report<\/a>. Stefano Pitrelli contributed from Rome.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A major meeting Pope Francis convened to help the Catholic Church improve its outreach to diverse modern families ended Saturday with a summary paper that removed earlier, revolutionary language that cited the value of same-sex and divorced families.<\/p>\n

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Critics of the pope were celebrating Saturday, with conservative Catholics cheering the reaffirmation that God prefers the traditional family.<\/p>\n

The two-week meeting in Rome hadn\u2019t been expected to result in changes to traditional doctrine, but the rare sight of cardinals from around the world debating matters such as whether same-sex couples can be called \u201cpartners\u201d floored many Catholics. More liberal Catholics said Saturday that it was a victory for the church to even have such conversations, though many expressed disappointment with the paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe language of compromise was eviscerated from Monday\u2019s summary,\u201d said Patrick Hornbeck, chair of theology at Fordham University, a Catholic institution. \u201cThe bishops who were more prophetic and progressive have found themselves drowned out by a chorus of hesitation and concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s summary reflected deep divisions in the world\u2019s largest Christian church as it tries to reconnect with 21st-century families while sticking to its doctrine. Traditional bishops had spoken publicly and angrily in the past few days against the more open language in Monday\u2019s draft document, saying it was a dangerous betrayal and potentially heretical. Some said the church could eventually be headed for division.<\/p>\n

The Synod on the Family was meant to launch a year of discussion in the church and lead to another gathering in the fall of 2015, when possible changes to teaching and practice will be made.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a 10-minute speech\u00a0<\/a>at the end of the closed meeting, Pope Francis sought to walk a middle line. He said the church can neither \u201cthrow stones\u201d at sinners nor be too accommodating to \u201ca worldly spirit.\u201d He was given a five-minute standing ovation, according to the Vatican press office.<\/p>\n

Some longtime Vatican-watchers saw reports of bitter politics inside the synod as a proxy for feelings about Francis. The pope approved the small group of top clergy \u2014 which included\u00a0Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 who on Monday released\u00a0the mid-meeting summary paper<\/a>, which said the church must \u201cturn respectfully\u201d to people in relationships it once labeled \u201cdisordered,\u201d such as unmarried couples who live together or same-sex couples who are raising children.<\/p>\n

The document at times used language that echoed a therapeutic, self-help style: People must \u201ctake care of themselves, to know their inner being, and to live in greater harmony with their emotions and sentiments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The backlash from conservatives was swift. \u201cThe message that has gone out is not true,\u201d South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly hope that this document will be set aside completely and there will be an effort made to present the church\u2019s true teaching and pastoral practice,\u201d said American Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the Vatican\u2019s high court.<\/p>\n

All week, Vatican spokesmen seemed to walk back the Monday document by bits.<\/p>\n

However, news came Friday that Francis was demoting Burke, one of his most prominent critics. And experts noted Saturday that the Vatican is a hierarchical institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrancis isn\u2019t like Obama needing votes. He can do whatever he wants,\u201d Hornbeck said.<\/p>\n

However, the pope\u2019s specific doctrinal desires remained unknown, as they have been since his election last year. He has used ever-more inclusive language but has always affirmed the church\u2019s orthodox teachings. Experts speculated all week about what kind of change might be possible in such a climate, focusing on matters like ending the church\u2019s practice of firing Catholic schoolteachers or choir leaders who are married to someone of the same gender or who never sought an annulment before remarrying after a divorce.<\/p>\n

New Ways Ministry, which advocates for gay equality in the church, said the Saturday summary \u201csignificantly backtracks on LGBT issues\u201d compared with Monday\u2019s document but isn\u2019t the final word.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was good about this two-week-long meeting? The real value of this synod is that it has started the discussion among the hierarchy on LGBT issues which has been going on for decades among the lay people and theologians in the Church,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Voice of the Family, a global coalition of traditional groups that formed to monitor the synod, said in a statement Saturday that the report \u201cfails to resolve the confusion\u201d the meeting caused.<\/p>\n

The Vatican on Saturday released the vote tallies for each section of the report, and Voice of the Family noted that the most contentious sections \u2014 encouraging a more welcoming attitude toward families who don\u2019t conform to orthodox norms \u2014 weren\u2019t overwhelmingly defeated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voting numbers reveal that most Synod Fathers remain open to proposals contrary to Catholic teaching,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThere has been much talk about \u2018welcoming\u2019 and \u2018accompanying\u2019 people, but this is impossible without the clarity of the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Anthony McLaughlin, who teaches church law at Catholic University and has led a Catholic marriage tribunal, said the meeting\u2019s impact will be in a change of tone \u2014 from condemnation or apathy to mercy. \u201cThe church does not say these people are to be shunned or spurned, or are no longer part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe church has been clear that everybody is a child of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Sean Winters, a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, emphasized that the synod discussed much more than gay issues. It began, he said, moving the church back to the basics of the faith, such as reaching out to the poor and marginalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously there are expressions of love that don\u2019t perfectly fit into the way the church believes that humans should live and act,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen overnight, but it\u2019s a totally different way of the church thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Francis will do next is unclear. But the Rev. Fred Eason, the longtime head of the Indianapolis tribunal, said Catholics should keep in mind that this is only the beginning of the buildup for next year\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not done with anything at the moment,\u201d he said.\u201cIt levels the playing field as to who has influence,\u201d Eason said. The pope\u2019s \u201cwhole approach is that everyone has influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michelle Boorstein.\u00a0Amy Brittain contributed to this report. Stefano Pitrelli contributed from Rome. A major meeting Pope Francis convened to help the Catholic Church improve its outreach to diverse modern families ended Saturday with a summary paper that removed earlier, revolutionary language that cited the value of same-sex and divorced families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,48],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-washpost","tag-religioni","tag-vaticano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanopitrelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}