VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 188   
   DATE 26-10-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Church's first duty is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but   
   to   
   proclaim God's mercy   
   - Final Relatio of the Synod: truth and mercy   
   - Closing Mass of the Synod: what the people sow today in tears, they will reap   
   tomorrow in joy   
   - The first to walk with us is our Father   
   - The Pope visits Cardinal Roger Etchegaray   
   - Francis receives the Synod of the Chaldean Church: I pray that Christians   
   will   
   not be forced to abandon Iraq and the Middle East   
   - To military chaplains: offer a consoling and fraternal presence to returning   
   servicemen   
   - To the Gypsy population: the time has come to eradicate prejudice   
   - Telegram for the death of Cardinal Korec, tireless defender of the Christian   
   faith and human rights   
   - Cardinals, patriarchs and bishops from all over the world launch an appeal to   
   the negotiators of COP 21   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Church's first duty is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to   
   proclaim God's mercy   
    Vatican City, 24 October 2015 (VIS) - The final General Congregation of the 14   
   th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops concluded today with an   
   address from Pope Francis. The Holy Father spoke about how these three weeks of   
   intense work have had different meanings for families, the Christian community   
   and the Church, and reiterated that "the true defenders of doctrine are not   
   those who uphold its letter, but its spirit; not ideas but people; not formulae   
   but the gratuitousness of God's love and forgiveness".   
    The following are extensive extracts from the Pope's address:   
    "As I followed the labours of the Synod, I asked myself: What will it mean for   
   the Church to conclude this Synod devoted to the family?   
    Certainly, the Synod was not about settling all the issues having to do with   
   the family, but rather attempting to see them in the light of the Gospel and   
   the   
   Church's tradition and two-thousand-year history, bringing the joy of hope   
   without falling into a facile repetition of what is obvious or has already been   
   said.   
    Surely it was not about finding exhaustive solutions for all the difficulties   
   and uncertainties which challenge and threaten the family, but rather about   
   seeing these difficulties and uncertainties in the light of the Faith,   
   carefully   
   studying them and confronting them fearlessly, without burying our heads in the   
   sand.   
    It was about urging everyone to appreciate the importance of the institution   
   of   
   the family and of marriage between a man and a woman, based on unity and   
   indissolubility, and valuing it as the fundamental basis of society and human   
   life.   
    It was about listening to and making heard the voices of the families and the   
   Church's pastors, who came to Rome bearing on their shoulders the burdens and   
   the hopes, the riches and the challenges of families throughout the world.   
    It was about showing the vitality of the Catholic Church, which is not afraid   
   to stir dulled consciences or to soil her hands with lively and frank   
   discussions about the family.   
    It was about trying to view and interpret realities, today's realities,   
   through   
   God's eyes, so as to kindle the flame of faith and enlighten people's hearts in   
   times marked by discouragement, social, economic and moral crisis, and growing   
   pessimism.   
    It was about bearing witness to everyone that, for the Church, the Gospel   
   continues to be a vital source of eternal newness, against all those who would   
   "indoctrinate" it in dead stones to be hurled at others.   
    It was also about laying bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even   
   behind the Church's teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair   
   of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult   
   cases and wounded families.   
    It was about making clear that the Church is a Church of the poor in spirit   
   and   
   of sinners seeking forgiveness, not simply of the righteous and the holy, but   
   rather of those who are righteous and holy precisely when they feel themselves   
   poor sinners.   
    It was about trying to open up broader horizons, rising above conspiracy   
   theories and blinkered viewpoints, so as to defend and spread the freedom of   
   the   
   children of God, and to transmit the beauty of Christian Newness, at times   
   encrusted in a language which is archaic or simply incomprehensible.   
    In the course of this Synod, the different opinions which were freely   
   expressed   
   - and at times, unfortunately, not in entirely well-meaning ways - certainly   
   led   
   to a rich and lively dialogue; they offered a vivid image of a Church which   
   does   
   not simply 'rubber stamp', but draws from the sources of her faith living   
   waters   
   to refresh parched hearts.   
    And - apart from dogmatic questions clearly defined by the Church's   
   Magisterium   
   - we have also seen that what seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is   
   considered strange and almost scandalous - almost! - for a bishop from another;   
   what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and   
   inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for   
   others   
   simply confusion. Cultures are in fact quite diverse, and every general   
   principle - as I said, dogmatic questions clearly defined by the Church's   
   Magisterium - every general principle needs to be inculturated, if it is to be   
   respected and applied. The 1985 Synod, which celebrated the twentieth   
   anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, spoke of   
   inculturation as 'the intimate transformation of authentic cultural values   
   through their integration in Christianity, and the taking root of Christianity   
   in the various human cultures'. Inculturation does not weaken true values, but   
   demonstrates their true strength and authenticity, since they adapt without   
   changing; indeed they quietly and gradually transform the different cultures.   
    We have seen, also by the richness of our diversity, that the same challenge   
   is   
   ever before us: that of proclaiming the Gospel to the men and women of today,   
   and defending the family from all ideological and individualistic assaults.   
    And without ever falling into the danger of relativism or of demonising   
   others,   
   we sought to embrace, fully and courageously, the goodness and mercy of God who   
   transcends our every human reckoning and desires only that 'all be saved'. In   
   this way we wished to experience this Synod in the context of the Extraordinary   
   Year of Mercy which the Church is called to celebrated.   
    Dear Brothers and Sisters, the Synod experience also made us better realise   
   that the true defenders of doctrine are not those who uphold its letter, but   
   its   
   spirit; not ideas but people; not formulae but the gratuitousness of God's love   
   and forgiveness. This is in no way to detract from the importance of formulae -   
   they are necessary - or from the importance of laws and divine commandments,   
   but   
   rather to exalt the greatness of the true God, Who does not treat us according   
   to our merits or even according to our works but solely according to the   
   boundless generosity of His Mercy. It does have to do with overcoming the   
   recurring temptations of the elder brother and the jealous labourers. Indeed,   
   it   
   means upholding all the more the laws and commandments which were made for man   
   and not vice versa.   
    In this sense, the necessary human repentance, works and efforts take on a   
   deeper meaning, not as the price of that salvation freely won for us by Christ   
   on the cross, but as a response to the One who loved us first and saved us at   
   the cost of his innocent blood, while we were still sinners.   
    The Church's first duty is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to   
   proclaim God's mercy, to call to conversion, and to lead all men and women to   
   salvation in the Lord.   
    Blessed Paul VI expressed this eloquently: 'We can imagine, then, that each of   
   our sins, our attempts to turn our back on God, kindles in Him a more intense   
   flame of love, a desire to bring us back to Himself and to His saving plan...   
   God,   
   in Christ, shows Himself to be infinitely good. God is good. Not only in   
   Himself; God is - let us say it with tears - good for us. He loves us, He seeks   
   us out, He thinks of us, He knows us, He touches our hearts and He waits for   
   us.   
   He will be - so to say - delighted on the day when we return and say: ‘Lord, in   
   your goodness, forgive me. Thus our repentance becomes God's joy".   
    St. John Paul II also stated that: 'the Church lives an authentic life when   
   she   
   professes and proclaims mercy ... and when she brings people close to the   
   sources of the Saviour's mercy, of which she is the trustee and dispenser'.   
    Benedict XVI, too, said: 'Mercy is indeed the central nucleus of the Gospel   
   message; it is the very name of God ... May all that the Church says and does   
   manifest the mercy God feels for mankind. When the Church has to recall an   
   unrecognised truth, or a betrayed good, she always does so impelled by merciful   
   love, so that men may have life and have it abundantly'.   
    In light of all this, and thanks to this time of grace which the Church has   
   experienced in discussing the family, we feel mutually enriched. Many of us   
   have   
   felt the working of the Holy Spirit Who is the real protagonist and guide of   
   the   
   Synod. For all of us, the word 'family' does have the same sound as it did   
   before the Synod, so much so that the word itself already contains the richness   
   of the family's vocation and the significance of the labours of the Synod.   
    In effect, for the Church to conclude the Synod means to return to our true   
   'journeying together' in bringing to every part of the world, to every diocese,   
   to every community and every situation, the light of the Gospel, the embrace of   
   the Church and the support of God's mercy. Thank you".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Final Relatio of the Synod: truth and mercy   
    Vatican City, 24 October 2015 (VIS) - The Synod Fathers approved by 177 votes   
   out of 265, a two-thirds majority, the final Relatio of the 14th Ordinary   
   General Assembly of the Synod on the Family, made up of 94 paragraphs, each one   
   of which was voted on individually. The director of the Holy See Press Office,   
   Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., gave a briefing on the document, which was   
   authorised for publication in Italian by Pope Francis.   
    Fr. Lombardi remarked that the text takes into account the many difficulties   
   faced by the family, but also its great capacity for facing and reacting to   
   them. The conclusive document of the Synod includes many of the amendments to   
   the Instrumentum Laboris presented by the Synod Fathers and therefore reflects   
   the voice of the Assembly.   
    With reference to the two paragraphs dedicated to complex family situations,   
   which were approved by a very slender majority of 178 and 180 votes, Fr.   
   Lombardi noted that they regard the pastoral approach to wounded families or   
   those that are irregular from a canonical point of view and in terms of the   
   discipline of the Church: in particular, cohabitation, civil marriage, divorced   
   and remarried persons and the way of pastorally addressing these situations.   
    Fr. Lombardi underlined that the tone of the document is positive and   
   welcoming, and that it has greatly enriched the Instrumentum Laboris.   
   Similarly,   
   the Pope's Motu Proprio on the reform of marriage annulment procedures made an   
   effective and decisive contribution to the theme of the Synod.   
    The final Relatio reaffirms the doctrine of the indissolubility of sacramental   
   marriage, which is not a yoke but rather a gift from God, a truth based in   
   Christ and in His relationship with the Church. At the same time, it underlines   
   that truth and mercy converge in Christ, which leads to welcome to wounded   
   families. Without expressly mentioning access to the Eucharist for remarried   
   divorcees, the Synod document recalls that they are not excommunicated and   
   refers the analysis of complex family situations to the discernment of pastors.   
   This discernment, the text underlines, must be applied in accordance with the   
   teaching of the Church, with trust in God's mercy that is denied to no-one.   
   With   
   regard to cohabiting couples, the text reiterates that this situation should be   
   faced constructively, seeking to transform it into an opportunity for a path to   
   conversion towards the fullness of marriage and family, in the light of the   
   Gospel.   
    Other salient points of the document refer to homosexuality. There must be no   
   discrimination against people with homosexual tendencies, but at the same time   
   the text states that the Church is contrary to same-sex unions and external   
   pressure on the Church in relation to this matter is not accepted. There are   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)