Vatican braces for synod showdown between hardliners and reformists
ROME — Pope Francis faces the biggest challenge of his papacy this weekend as bishops from around the world gather at the Vatican to discuss a series of contentious social issues, including same-sex marriage, contraception and whether to allow remarried divorcees to take communion.
The Vatican is braced for a bruising showdown between the reform-minded, who are backed by the Pope, and the hardliners, including many cardinals, when the two-week Extraordinary Synod begins Sunday.
In the first synod of his papacy, the pontiff is determined to foster open debate. A potential softening of the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on divorcees who remarry being allowed to take communion is a particularly sensitive issue. The church does not recognize divorces dispensed by civil courts and so regards people who have remarried as adulterers.
Although the church’s intransigence on the issue has driven away many Catholics, the Pope’s urge for reform is opposed by some cardinals, as well as many conservatives in America.
“This synod is going to be hugely significant,” said Robert Mickens, a Rome-based Vatican analyst and the editor of Global Pulse, a Catholic current affairs website. “It’s revolutionary to have a Pope who wants debate.”
The Pope has hinted in homilies, addresses and interviews that he is in favour of adopting a more “merciful” approach toward remarried divorcees who want to receive the Sacrament.
This synod is going to be hugely significant.
ROBERT MICKENS
ROME-BASED VATICAN ANALYST
He is seen as in favour of suggestions made by Cardinal Walter Kasper, a reformminded theologian, that remarried divorcees should in some cases be allowed to perform a period of “penance” and then take communion.
The issue will be debated intensely at the synod, which brings together nearly 200 cardinals, bishops and archbishops as well as a dozen handpicked married couples who will be asked their opinions on the challenges facing modern Catholic families. The tense atmosphere ahead of the synod has degenerated into waspish bickering between the “princes of the church.”
Cardinal Leo Raymond Burke, an arch-conservative, described Cardinal Kasper’s proposals as “fundamentally flawed” and said some of his opinions were “outrageous.”
“I have to say that I find it amazing that (Cardinal Kasper) claims to speak for the Pope. The Pope does not have laryngitis. The Pope is not mute. The Pope can speak for himself,” he said.