Family synod in a new twist
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis' divisive meeting on family issues took another controversial twist yesterday with revelations that several conservative cardinals wrote to the pontiff expressing serious concerns about "predetermined results" coming out of the meeting — only to have doubts arise over both the content of their letter and the cardinals responsible.
Veteran Vatican journalist meeting lacked openness, Sandro Magister published that the drafting committee the letter Monday for the final document was morning on his L'Espresso appointed by the pope, not blog and listed 13 cardinals elected by the synod's 270 who purportedly signed it. members, and that the overall He said one of the 13, the process "seems designed Vatican's Australian financial to facilitate predetermined manager, Cardinal results on important disputed George Pell, hand-delivered questions." it to Francis on Oct. 5 at the By Monday afternoon, start of the three-week meeting at least four of the 13 purported on crafting better pastoral signatories said they care for Catholic families. had never signed such a letter.
The letter, written in Pell's spokesman seemed English, complained that the to confirm he was behind the initiative by saying the letter was private and was supposed to stay private.
The statement said there were "errors" in both the content and the number of signatories reported by Magister, suggesting that Pell indeed had been responsible but that the version that Magister published wasn't the final one or the one that other cardinals had agreed to.
Pell has been at the forefront of the conservative resistance to attempts by liberals at the synod to find wiggle room in the church's ban on giving Communion to Catholics remarried outside the church. Catholic teaching holds that without an annulment, these Catholics are committing adultery and cannot receive the sacraments.
Pell had raised concerns on the eve of the synod about a host of issues covered in the letter, including the Communion ban and the potential for a "skewed" final report based on who was named to the drafting committee. In the end, the committee was appointed by Francis, not elected as Pell had wanted.