VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 184   
   DATE 21-10-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Fidelity to the promise, a work of art   
   - The Circuli Minori conclude their examination of the Instrumentum Laboris   
   - Declaration by the director of the Holy See Press Office   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Fidelity to the promise, a work of art   
    Vatican City, 21 October 2015 (VIS) - This morning Pope Francis held his usual   
   Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square. In his catechesis, in which   
   he   
   revisited the theme of the family, he reflected on faithfulness and the promise   
   of love between a man and a woman, on which the family is based, and which   
   implies the promise to welcome and educate children, to care for elderly   
   parents   
   and the weakest members of the family, and to help each other to develop their   
   own qualities and to accept their limitations.   
    "A family that closes up on itself is a contradiction, a mortification of the   
   promise that brought it to life", he said. "Never forget that the identity of   
   the family is always a promise that extends and expands to all the family, and   
   also to all humanity. ... Love, like friendship, owes its strength and beauty   
   to   
   the fact that it generates a bond without curbing freedom. Love is free, the   
   promise of the family is free, and this is its beauty. Without freedom there is   
   no friendship, without freedom there is no love, without freedom there is no   
   marriage. So, freedom and fidelity are not opposed to each other; on the   
   contrary, they support each other, in terms of both interpersonal and social   
   relationships. Indeed, think of the damage caused, in the civilisation of   
   global   
   communication, by the inflation of promises not kept, in various fields, and   
   the   
   indulgence for infidelity to the word given and to commitments made".   
    "Being faithful to promises is a true work of art by humanity", added Pope   
   Francis. "No relationship of love - no friendship, no form of caring for   
   another   
   person, no joy of the common good - reaches the height of our desire and our   
   hope, if it does not arrive at the point of inhabiting this miracle of the   
   soul.   
   And I use the word 'miracle', because the strength and persuasiveness of   
   fidelity, in spite of everything, can only enchant and surprise us. ... No   
   school   
   can teach the truth of love, if the family does not do so. No law can imposed   
   the beauty or legacy of this treasure of human dignity, if the personal bond   
   between love and generation does not inscribe it in our flesh".   
    "Our fidelity to our promises is always entrusted to the grace and mercy of   
   God. Love for the human family, in good times and bad, is a point of honour for   
   the Church. May God enable us always to be worthy of this promise".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Circuli Minori conclude their examination of the Instrumentum Laboris   
    Vatican City, 21 October 2015 (VIS) - On Monday and Tuesday this week the   
   Synod   
   Fathers examined the third part of the Instrumentum Laboris, which deals with,   
   among other themes, irregular family situations, admission of divorced and   
   remarried faithful to communion, the pastoral care of homosexuals, and   
   responsible parenthood.   
    The working groups analyses the special needs of families in irregular or   
   difficult situations, acknowledging, as affirmed by the English-speaking group   
   C   
   whose rapporteur is Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge, that "those cohabiting   
   are in a quite different situation from those who are divorced and civilly   
   remarried. We also agreed that cohabitation, though very widespread in many   
   cultures now, could not be considered a good in itself. We were prepared to   
   recognise that there may be good in the relationship of those cohabiting rather   
   than in cohabitation in some quasi-institutional sense".   
    "We know that that are many other families who feel they are far from the   
   ideal   
   model, and others who to a greater or lesser extent do not even think it is for   
   them", comments the French group represented by Bishop Laurent Ulrich. "Divided   
   families, mixed families, single parent families, families without marriage,   
   even civil only; we cannot reject them, and we do not wish to think that their   
   path does not lead them to God, Who loves and draws all people towards Him. We   
   believe that in them we see the Spirit of the Lord Who inspires much of their   
   behaviour in their lives, and this detracts nothing from Christian families   
   whom   
   we support and encourage".   
    With regard to the divorced and civilly remarried, there is general agreement   
   about the need to provide more effective pastoral accompaniment for these   
   couples, and especially for their children who also have rights. Some groups   
   express perplexity, however, in relation to what the Instrumentum Laboris   
   refers   
   to as a "a penitential path". "It is not clear to name the journey taken by the   
   divorced and remarried as a 'penitential path'", remarks the Spanish-speaking   
   group represented by Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo. "Perhaps it   
   would be better to speak about itineraries of reconciliation, as there are some   
   irreversible situations that cannot be subject to a penitential path without   
   the   
   possibility of overcoming this".   
    "It would appear that, with regard to the issue of closeness, we are all in   
   agreement, but what happens when we consider access to the sacraments?" asked   
   the Spanish-speaking group whose rapporteur is Cardinal Jose Luis Lacunza   
   Maestrojuan, O.A.R. "Without doubt, we need to set in motion a generous   
   movement   
   removing many of the obstacles from the way so that divorced and remarried   
   faithful can participate more widely in the life of the Church: at the moment   
   they cannot be godparents, they cannot be catechists, and they are not able to   
   teach religion. ... We must show that we are listening to the cry of many   
   people   
   who suffer and who call to participate as fully as possible in the life of the   
   Church".   
    "With regard to the discipline of remarried divorcees, at present it is not   
   possible to establish general criteria covering all cases, which are very   
   diverse", observes the Italian group represented by Cardinal Maurizio Piacenza.   
   "There are divorced and remarried faithful who apply themselves to following   
   the   
   path of the Gospel, offering significant witness of charity. At the same time,   
   it is undeniable that in some circumstances, factors are present that limit the   
   possibilities of acting differently. As a consequence, the judgement on an   
   objective situation cannot be assumed in the judgement on subjective   
   'impunity'.   
   The limits and conditions thus become an appeal to discernment - primarily on   
   the part of the bishop - which must be accurate and respect the complexity of   
   such situations".   
    The English group A, whose rapporteur is Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz,   
   expresses the view that "pastoral practice concerning admission to the   
   Sacrament   
   of the Eucharist by the divorced and civilly remarried ought not to be left to   
   individual episcopal conferences. To do so would risk harm to the unity of the   
   Catholic Church, the understanding of her sacramental order, and the visible   
   witness of the life of the faithful".   
    The English group represented by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin requests that "the   
   Holy Father, taking into account the rich material which has emerged during   
   this   
   synodal process, consider establishing during the Jubilee Year of Mercy a   
   Special Commission to study in depth the ways in which the disciplines of the   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)