Synod statement prompts diverse, contradictory reactions
October 26, 2015
The final statement approved by the Synod of Bishops has drawn widely disparate responses from commentators, with journalists taking contradictory views on what the document actually says.
Two days after the Synod approved a final statement—with the most controversial passage barely gaining the required two-thirds of the bishops’ votes—the text was not yet available in an approved English translation.
An AP story reported that the Synod statement was “a clear victory for Francis and the progressive prelates who have been seeking wiggle room in Church teaching to allow remarried Catholics to receive Communion.” But Cardinal George Pell remarked: “There is nothing there endorsing Communion for the divorced and remarried.”
Cardinal Walter Kasper, whose proposal was the most contentious topic of the Synod’s discussions, told the Italian daily Il Giornale that he is “satisfied” with the result. He explained that “the door has been opened to the possibility of the divorced and remarried being granted Communion,” and now “it’s all in the Pope’s hands.”
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Further information:
- Pope at family synod's end: 'Today is a time of mercy' (AP)
- Bishops Hand Pope Defeat on His Outreach to Divorced Catholics (Wall Street Journal)
- Catholic Paper on Family Is Hailed by All Sides, Raising Fears of Disputes (New York Times)
- Cardinal Pell: “The final document is much better than what we feared” (Gloria.TV)
- Final Synod Document Strongly Backs Church Teaching on Family Life (National Catholic Register)
- But the Synod of the Media Has Already Toppled the Real One (L’Espresso)
- After the synod, can Catholics put Humpty Dumpty together again? (Crux)
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