![]() While not changing teaching on homosexual acts, it is a recognition of the value of gay relationships, something that Cardinal Basil Hume had done back in 1997 but which then was markedly different in tone from Vatican documents on the subject at that time. It goes on to explain that gay Catholics have “gifts and qualities” to offer parishes, and same-sex relationships at times demonstrate “mutual aid to the point of sacrifice”. ![]() It recalls the Second Vatican Council when it talks about recognising “positive elements” to be found in unions outside sacramental marriage, and says the Church should acknowledge the “seeds of the Word” in the relationships of cohabitating couples, civil marriages and divorced and remarried people. The language in the document, which it should be stressed is not the final text, is striking. “They did not understand that God is the God of surprises, that God is always new He never denies Himself, never says that what He said was wrong, never, but He always surprises us.” And when the synod released its halfway-point document – the relatio post disceptationem (“report after the discussion”) – there were many who were surprised. ![]() “They were closed within their system, they had perfectly systemised the law, it was a masterpiece,” he said in his homily. At the daily Mass at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Pope reflected on Jesus’ criticism of the Doctors of the Law. Yet just hours before the gathering released a document offering a dramatically new pastoral strategy for the Church in relation to gays, divorcees and cohabiting couples, he gave a homily hinting what might be coming. This week produced the clearest evidence yet that the Synod Fathers are sharply divided between those who are supporting Pope Francis in his efforts to present a more pastoral vision of the Church and those determined first and foremost to emphasise its moral teachingįor the vast majority of the time he has spent at the Synod on the Family, Pope Francis has sat silently and listened to the discussion.
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