Clergy process at the start of the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Oct. 25. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (Oct. 26, 2009) Pope Francis traveled to Africa November 25-30, bringing a message of hope and reconciliation to three nations which continue to experience exploitation, violence, [...]
This photo is from October 15, at the mid-point of the Synod. Pope Francis leads the Synod in prayer before the day's session gets underway (Galazka photo). Our special correspondent, Mary Jo Anderson, an American Catholic woman writer, spent most of October in Rome. These are passages from her “Synod journal” The much-reported [...]
The following are excerpts from the above-titled article by Bishop Schneider. The article first appeared on the website Rorate Caeli The XIV General Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops (October 4 – 25, 2015), which was dedicated to the theme of “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World,” issued [...]
While the traditional family is beset by storms, civil society is encouraging and celebrating new forms of unionsThe bishops call the crisis of the family a “challenge” — but it’s a life-or-death emergency I’ve read, in the original, the final relatio of the synod of bishops, on the Church’s mission to the family. Let me say [...]
God presents Eve to Adam. Mosaic in the Cathedral of Monreale, Italy (near Palermo). “The universal fact about marriage is not that all human persons are called to it — but rather that all human persons are called to come forth from it” By Mary Ellen Stanford At a press briefing during the Synod, [...]
On OCtober 20, 2015, toward the end of the Synod of Bishops, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Moscow, shown here as participants were leaving the Synod Hall, delivered a powerful address (excerpts below) Excerpts of the address by Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion to the Catholic Synod of Bishops on the Family, October 20, 2015 [...]
Demonstrators protesting a same-sex marriage bill outside the parliament building in London on June 3, 2013. The House of Lords was debating a bill to allow two people of the same gender to marry in England and Wales. The House of Commons approved the bill in May 2013 (CNS photo/Toby Melville, Reuters) The anthropology [...]
Francis leaving the Synod Hall on its final working day, October 24. Thoughtful remarks and reflections expressed by four participants and one astute observer, in various contexts during the October 4-25 Synod on the Family “The most merciful thing is to tell the truth in love…” Excerpts from the Introductory Talk Given by [...]
Reflections on the Synod After the conclusion of the October Bishops’ Synod on the Family (October 4-25), reactions to the events and controversies associated with it and its final, 94-paragraph document, the relatio, largely fell, not unpredictably, along “conservative” and “progressive” lines. But in both camps there was considerable uncertainty. Many “progressives” seemed to feel they [...]
October 24, 2015, Saturday — Three Less Unanimous Paragraphs (with Vote Total "While insisting on God’s love for homosexual persons and the obligation to respect their dignity, the report also insisted homosexual unions could not be recognized as marriages and denounced as 'totally unacceptable' governments or international organizations making recognition of 'marriage’ between persons of the [...]
