VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 171   
   DATE 06-10-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis to the Synod Fathers: "Speak clearly, listen with humility, accept   
   with an open heart"   
   - Summary of the Relatio ante disceptationem   
   - Nurturing "God's dream", guided by the Holy Spirit   
   - Angelus: "A Bible for every family, to read often"   
   - Prayer vigil for the Synod: may the Synod Fathers be able to listen to God   
   and to the People   
   - Francis to disabled athletes: your testimony is a great sign of hope   
   - Christians in the Middle East: the Church cannot remain silent before the   
   persecution of her children   
   - In brief   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis to the Synod Fathers: "Speak clearly, listen with humility, accept   
   with an open heart"   
    Vatican City, 6 October 2014 (VIS) - This morning, in the presence of the   
   Holy Father, the First General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops on   
   "Pastoral challenges to the family in the context of new evangelisation" took   
   place in the Synod Hall. The Pope greeted the Synod Fathers and all the   
   collaborators in the Synod - the relators, consultors, translators and all   
   those "who have worked with dedication, patience and competence, for long   
   months, reading and working on the themes, texts and the work of this   
   Extraordinary General Assembly".   
    Today I also thank you, dear cardinals, patriarchs, bishops, priests, men and   
   women religious and laypersons for your presence and your participation that   
   enriches the works and the spirit of collegiality and synodality for the good   
   of the Church and families. ... You bring the voice of the particular   
   Churches, gathered at the level of the local Churches through the Episcopal   
   Conferences. The universal Church and the particular Churches are of divine   
   institution; the local Churches, understood in this way, are of human   
   institution. You will bring this voice in synodality. It is a great   
   responsibility: bring the reality and problems of the Churches to help them to   
   walk the path of the Gospel of the family".   
    "A general basic condition is this: speak clearly. Let no one say, 'this   
   can't be said, they will think this or that about me'. Everything we feel must   
   be said, with parrhesia. After the last Consistory in February 2014, which   
   focused on the family, a Cardinal wrote to me saying that it was a pity that   
   some cardinals did not have the courage to say certain things out of respect   
   for the Pope, thinking perhaps that the Pope thought differently. This is not   
   good - it is not synodality, because it is necessary to say everything that in   
   the Lord we feel must be said: without human respect, without timidness. And,   
   at the same time, we must listen with humility and accept with an open heart   
   all that our brothers say. With these two attitudes, synodality is achieved".   
    "Therefore, I ask of you", insisted Francis, "these two attitudes of brothers   
   in the Lord: speak with parrhesia and listen with humility. And do so with   
   great tranquillity and peace, because the Synod always takes place 'cum Petro   
   et sub Petro', and the presence of the Pope is a guarantee for all and a   
   protection of faith".   
    At the end the Holy Father's brief address and that of Cardinal Andre   
   Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, France, presiding at the session, Cardinal   
   Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, gave a   
   presentation of the various stages in the preparation of this Extraordinary   
   Assembly, the number of participants, the novelties and the work of the   
   Secretariat of the Synod following the last Ordinary General Assembly held in   
   October 2012 under the papacy of Benedict XVI. He concluded by expressing the   
   hope that this Synod may be "a privileged space for this synodal collegiality,   
   that proclaims the Gospel while walking its path. May it be permeated by a new   
   openness to the Spirit, by a method and a style of life and witness that   
   guarantee unity in diversity, apostolicity in Catholicity". Cardinal Peter   
   Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and relator general of the Synod, went   
   on to read the "Relatio ante disceptationem", summarised in the following   
   article.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Summary of the Relatio ante disceptationem   
    Vatican City, 6 October 2014 (VIS) - The "Report prior to discussion"   
   presented this morning by Cardinal Peter Erdo, relator general, introduces the   
   work of the Synod, emphasising the main points in relation to which the   
   discussion of the Assembly should develop. In this sense, it is important to   
   highlight a new element: the report of this Synod Assembly already includes   
   the Synod Fathers' written discourses, sent in advance to the Secretariat   
   General of the Synod, with the aim of responding better to the collegial sense   
   of the Assembly.   
    First and foremost, Cardinal Erdo's report encourages the family to be   
   regarded with hope and mercy, proclaiming its value and beauty as, in spite of   
   the many difficulties, it is not a "model off course"; we live in a world of   
   mere emotions, he continues, in which life "is not a project, but rather a   
   series of moments" and "stable commitment appears formidable" for humanity   
   rendered fragile by individualism. But it is precisely here, faced with these   
   "signs of the times", that the Gospel of the family offers itself as a remedy,   
   a "true medicine" that is to be proposed by "placing oneself in the corner of   
   those who find it more difficult to recognise and live it".   
    No, therefore, to "doom and surrender" within the Church. "There exists a   
   clear and broadly shared heritage of faith". For example, ideological forms   
   such as gender theory or the equality of homosexual unions with marriage   
   between a man and a woman do not find consensus among the majority of   
   Catholics, while marriage and the family are still largely understood as a   
   "patrimony" for humanity, to be protected, promoted and defended. Certainly,   
   among believers doctrine is often little known or practised, but this does not   
   mean that it is under discussion". This is particularly relevant in relation   
   to the indissolubility of marriage and its sacramental nature among baptised   
   persons. The indissolubility of marriage is not called into question; on the   
   other hand, it is uncontested and for the greater part observed also in the   
   pastoral practice of the Church with those whose marriages have failed and who   
   seek a new beginning. Therefore, not doctrinal, but rather practical questions   
   - inseparable from the truths of faith - are in discussion in this Synod, of   
   an exquisitely pastoral nature".   
    This leads to the need for greater formation, above all for engaged couples,   
   so that they are clearly aware both of the sacramental dignity of marriage,   
   based on "uniqueness, fidelity and fruitfulness", and of its nature as "in   
   institution in society". Although threatened by "disrupting factors" such as   
   divorce, abortion, violence, poverty, abuse, the "nightmare" of precariousness   
   and the imbalance caused by migration, explains Cardinal Erdo, the family   
   remains a "school of humanity". "The family is almost the last welcoming human   
   reality in a world determined near exclusively by finance and technology. A   
   new culture of the family can be the starting point for a renewed human   
   civilisation".   
    Therefore, continues the cardinal, the Church supports the family in a   
   concrete way, although this "does not exclude the need for active commitment   
   on the part of States" in the protection and promotion of the common good,   
   through suitable policies.   
    Turning later to those who live in difficult marital conditions, Cardinal   
   Erdo highlights that the Church is a the "House of the Father"; in relation to   
   these people, a "renewed and adequate action of family pastoral" is necessary,   
   in particular to enable them to feel loved by God and the ecclesial community,   
   from a merciful perspective that does not, however, cancel out "truth and   
   justice". "Consequently, mercy does not take away the commitments which arise   
   from the demands of the marriage bond. They will continue to exist even when   
   human love is weakened or has ceased. This means that, in the case of a   
   (consummated) sacramental marriage, after a divorce, a second marriage   
   recognised by the Church is impossible, while the first spouse is still alive".   
    Considering the diversity of situations - divorces, civil marriages,   
   cohabitation - Cardinal Erdo highlighted the need for "clear guidelines" so   
   that the pastors of local communities may offer practical help to couples in   
   difficulty, avoiding improvisation and "do it yourself" pastoral care. With   
   regard to divorced and civilly remarried persons, he underlines that it would   
   be misleading to concentrate only on the question of receiving sacraments - it   
   is instead important to look at the broader context of preparation for   
   marriage and support - pastoral rather than bureaucratic - for couples, to   
   help them understand the reasons for the failure of their first union and to   
   identify the causes for nullity: "As regards the divorced who are civilly   
   married, many have said that the distinction needs to be made between the one   
   who is guilty for the break-up of the marriage and the innocent party. The   
   Church's pastoral care should extend to each of them in a particular way".   
    Furthermore, in view of the limited knowledge of the marriage sacrament and   
   an increasing "divorce mentality", "it does not seem hazardous ... to believe   
   that many marriages celebrated in the Church may be invalid". This leads to   
   the suggestion included in the Relatio to recognise "in the first place the   
   obligation for two appeals of confirmation on the declaration of nullity of   
   the marriage bond" and in any case "to avoid any type of mechanics or   
   impression of granting a divorce" or "to avoid solutions which are unjust and   
   scandalous". In this respect, it is necessary also to study the practice of   
   various Orthodox Churches which permit second or third marriages of a   
   penitential nature.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)