Prominent prelates differ sharply on Synod’s final report

October 27, 2015

In separate interviews following the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops, Archbishop Bruno Forte and Cardinal George Pell offered contradictory interpretations of the synod’s final report, which was approved on October 24.

Because the Synod of Bishops is a consultative body, Pope Francis is free to adopt or disregard portions of the final report as he sees fit in any post-synodal documents or decisions.

Cardinal Pell, the prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, told The National Catholic Register that “there is no mention anywhere of Communion for the divorced and remarried. It’s not one of the possibilities that was floated. The document is cleverly written to get consensus. Some people would say it’s insufficient. It’s not ambiguous.”

He added:

It was emphatically rejected that there was any comparison between homosexual marriage and same-sex unions. There was explicit rejection of the theory of graduality of the law. There’s a reaffirmation of the teaching of Humanae Vitae, there’s an adequate presentation of the teaching on conscience. All these things are significant reinforcements of the present doctrine of the Church.

In contrast, Archbishop Bruno Forte, the synod’s special secretary, told the Italian Episcopal Conference’s radio station that the final report permits the reception of Holy Communion by “some” persons who have remarried outside the Church, following an examination of conscience and a discernment process with their pastors.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster lent support to the latter interpretation, telling journalists that “no one will set out on this pathway [of discernment] with the single aim of receiving Holy Communion. And nobody will be accompanied on this pathway with the single principle that they can’t.”

The synod, he added, “quite deliberately set aside the question of admission to the Eucharist, because that had become a yes-no issue. And the very nature of this is that it’s not as simple as yes-no.”

“It’s a pathway,” he said. “And it is not for me or for the priest who is doing the accompaniment to pre-empt or foreclose that pathway.”

 

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Further information:

• Synod Final Document: English Translation of Hot-Topic Paragraphs (Aleteia.org)
• Sinodo, Mons Bruno Forte: accompagnare, discernere, integrare (InBlu)
• Forte: “dal Sinodo comunione ai divorziati, ma non a tutti”. Vian: “assemblea non scontata e prevedibile” (Faro di Roma)
• Cardinal Pell on the Synod, the Final Report, and Decentralization (National Catholic Register)
• Synod statement prompts diverse, contradictory reactions (CWN, 10/26)
• From the synod (17): Cardinal Nichols on pathway for divorced and remarried: ‘It’s their decision’ (Catholic Voices)