Eleven cardinals contribute to new book urging Synod to uphold Church teaching on marriage

August 31, 2015

Eleven cardinals, from all around the world, have contributed to a new book arguing against any substantive change in the Church’s teaching on marriage.

In Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and Family, due for release by Ignatius Press on September 15, the prelates urge the Synod of Bishops to reinforce understanding of Christian marriage, and dismiss calls for allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

In an excerpt from the forthcoming book, released by Catholic World Report, Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan argues forcefully that recent revolutionary changes in the public understanding of marriage reflect “the strong influence of the evil one.” He writes:

Neither the great schism that gave rise to the Orthodox churches nor the Protestant Reformation that gave rise to the many Protestant churches tampered with the essential properties of marriage. All agreed that marriage is between a man and a woman, in unity and indissolubility. It is only recently that we have begun to see major shifts on the part of many Christian bodies. In the last couple of decades, it is as if a doctrinal earthquake had overtaken the Christian churches.

The contributors to the new book are:

1. Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna;
2. Cardinal Josef Cordes, retired president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum;
3. Cardinal Dominik Duka of Prague;
4. Cardinal Jacobus Eijk of Utrecht;
5. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne;
6. Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria;
7. Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, retired Archbishop of Madrid;
8. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, former vicar of Rome;
9. Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship;
10. Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas; and
11. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

 

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Further information:

• Eleven cardinals urge maintaining church rules on marriage (CNS)
• In an exclusive excerpt from Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family (Catholic World Report)