The Catholic Bishops’ Synod held in the Vatican City on October 4-25, calls for a church that shows mercy and pastoral care for couples and families in irregular, such as separated and divorced marriages, couples who have remarried, broken families, mixed marriages, and separated couples due to migration.
While the bishops acknowledged the hope and joy that marriage and family brings to the world, they could not turn a blind eye to the struggles, suffering, and challenges of marriage and family life in the contemporary world.
The hard social and anthropological realities faced by families calls the church to recourse to her sources of faith, namely, natural law, scripture, church teachings, reason, and experience to rediscover God’s will in regard to marriage and family.
The bishops adopted Pope Francis’ vision of mercy as the special lens with which to reflect on marriage and family in the world today.
The bishops call the church to accompany, counsel, care for marriages and families in irregular situations. The synod reaffirms St. Pope John Paul II’s vision for the pastoral care of marriage and family. This involves the stages of remote, proximate, and immediate preparations for marriage.
The bishops teach that marriage has to be seen as a whole life journey beginning from childhood to marriage and after marriage rather than an isolated event.
The Bishops’ Synod reaffirmed the foundational teaching of marriage as a relationship of conjugal love between a man and a woman. The synod therefore teaches that no other human union even though legalised by the state, cannot be analogous to the marriage of a man and a woman.
The synod affirms that marriage and family are the basic foundations of society.
The synod addressed homosexuality in the context of the family. The bishops state that homosexuals are children of God endowed with dignity like everyone else. Homosexuals too need the pastoral accompaniment of the church in regard to their spiritual and human development.
The Bishops’ Synod is an assembly of bishops from around the world to assist the Pope by providing counsel on important questions facing the church in a manner that preserves the church’s teaching and care for people. The Synod of Catholic Bishops is an important institution of the Catholic Church instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1965, shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, to continue the spirit of cooperation and unity that was present at the council.
The 2015 Bishops’ Synod held in the Vatican City from October 4-24 reflected on “The vocation and mission of the family in the church and in the contemporary world”.
Two hundred and seventy bishops from all over the world were present as well as lay people, married couples and specialists from various fields. Bishops and cardinals from orthodox and protestant churches were also invited to the synod.
Pope Francis clearly made it clear in his opening address that the Synod is about the church and not a parliament. He said “the synod is not a parliament”.
The synodal process is not about reaching a consensus or a common accord where there is recourse to negotiation, to deal-making, or to compromise. Rather the synod is about the church, about listening to God, and about reaching out in mercy to God’s people. The synod reflects on the experiences and struggles of God’s people in light of the Word of God in order to make effective pastoral responses.
Pope Francis explains that the synod should focus on the faithfulness of the church to the needs of the people while keeping intact the doctrine.
The Pope explains that a synod is a protected space in which the church experiences the action of the Holy Spirit. In the synod, the Spirit speaks by means of every person’s tongue.
He adds that in the synod the bishops should be guided by the God who always surprises.
The synod is a process, not an event. These are the clear instructions of Pope Francis to the bishops as he guides the synodal process. This will include a “healthy decentralisation” and a listening to the faith and experience of the people. The Pope calls for an “instinct to discern the new ways that the Lord is revealing to the church”. The Pope wants a church that is continually listening to the people of God.
Pope Francis clarifies that openness to the Holy Spirit is the only method for the synod to achieve its aim. This method calls apostolic courage, evangelical humility and prayer.
These dispositions are necessary so that God will guide and enlighten us to be faithful to the church’s teaching and the needs of God’s people.
The synod’s final report, which was handed to the Pope, is a product of the church’s reflection on the social reality facing marriages and families in light of the Word of God and proposals for church action.
It is the tradition of the Catholic Church for the Pope to publish a Post Synod Exhortation based on his reflections on the Synod Final Report. The churches and the world can look forward to the accumulated wisdom of the bishops and Pope Francis for a document that will guide marriages, families and the world as a family.
* The views expressed are those of the author’s and not of this newspaper.
