VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic
bishops scrapped their landmark welcome to gays Saturday, showing deep
divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to
chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families.
The bishops
failed to approve even a watered-down section on ministering to
homosexuals that stripped away the welcoming tone of acceptance
contained in a draft document earlier in the week.
Rather
than considering gays as individuals who had gifts to offer the church,
the revised paragraph referred to homosexuality as one of the problems
Catholic families have to confront. It said "people with homosexual
tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy," but repeated
church teaching that marriage is only between man and woman. The
paragraph failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
Two
other paragraphs concerning the other hot-button issue at the synod of
bishops — whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive
Communion — also failed to pass.
The outcome showed a deeply divided church on some of the most pressing issues facing Catholic families.
It
appeared that the 118-62 vote on the gay section might have been a
protest vote by progressive bishops who refused to back the watered-down
wording. The original draft had said gays had gifts to offer the church
and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay
couples with "precious" support.
New Ways Ministry, a
Catholic gay rights group, said it was "very disappointing" that the
final report had backtracked from the welcoming words contained in the
draft. Nevertheless, it said the synod's process "and openness to
discussion provides hope for further development down the road,
particularly at next year's synod, where the makeup of the participants
will be larger and more diverse, including many more pastorally-oriented
bishops."
The draft had been
written by a Francis appointee, Monsignor Bruno Forte, a theologian
known for pushing the pastoral envelope on ministering to people in
"irregular" unions. The draft was supposed to have been a synopsis of
the bishops' interventions, but many conservatives complained that it
reflected a minority and overly progressive view.
Francis
insisted in the name of transparency that the full document — including
the paragraphs that failed to pass — be published along with the voting
tally. The document will serve as the basis for future debate leading
up to another meeting of bishops next October that will produce a final
report to be sent to Francis.
"Personally I would have been very
worried and saddened if there hadn't been these ... animated discussions
... or if everyone had been in agreement or silent in a false and
acquiescent peace," Francis told the synod hall after the vote.
Conservatives
had harshly criticized the draft and proposed extensive revisions to
restate church doctrine, which holds that gay sex is "intrinsically
disordered," but that gays themselves are to be respected, and that
marriage is only between a man and woman.
"We could see that there
were different viewpoints," said Cardinal Oswald Gracis of India, when
asked about the most contentious sections of the report on homosexuals
and divorced and remarried Catholics.
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the leader of the progressive camp, said he was "realistic" about the outcome.
In
an unexpected gesture after the voting, Francis approached a group of
journalists waiting outside the synod hall to thank them for their work
covering the synod.
"Thanks to
you and your colleagues for the work you have done," he said. "Grazie
tante." Conservative bishops had harshly criticized journalists for
reporting on the dramatic shift in tone in the draft, even though the
media reports merely reflected the document's content.
Francis'
gesture, and his words inside the synod hall chastising bishops who
were overly wed to doctrine and were guided by "hostile rigidity," as
well as those bishops who showed a "destructive goody-goodiness,"
indicated that he was well aware of the divisions the debate had
sparked. His speech received a four-minute standing ovation,
participants said.
Over the past week, the
bishops split themselves up into working groups to draft amendments to
the text. They were nearly unanimous in insisting that church doctrine
on family life be more fully asserted and that faithful Catholic
families should be held up as models and encouraged rather than focus on
family problems and "irregular" unions.
The
bishops signaled a similar tone in a separate message directed at
Christian families released Saturday. There was no mention whatsoever of
families with gay children, much less gay parents, and it spoke of the
"complex and problematic" issues that arise when marriages fail and new
relationships begin.
"Christ
wanted his church to be a house with the door always open to welcome
everyone, without excluding anyone," the message read. (Oddly, the
English translation was less welcoming than the official Italian, ending
the sentence after 'everyone.')
Cardinal
Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa, who helped draft the revised final
report, told Vatican Radio the final document showed a "common vision"
that was lacking in the draft.
He
said the key areas for concern were "presenting homosexual unions as if
they were a very positive thing" and the suggestion that divorced and
remarried Catholics should be able to receive Communion without an
annulment.
He complained that the draft was presented as the opinion of the whole synod, when it was "one or two people."
"And that made people very angry," he said.
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