VATICAN CITY
RTE News
By Joe Little
During next Sunday’s Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis will open an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Catholic family and its future.
Already preparations for the gathering have made waves, with last year’s unprecedented circulation online of a Vatican questionnaire designed to gauge what Catholics think of Church teaching on issues like contraception, abortion, and homosexual unions.
But all continents will be represented and issues far from removed from the western mindset will also be discussed.
The fortnight-long Synod is shaping up to be the most open consultation of its kind since Pope Paul VI introduced such gatherings almost 50 years ago after the Second Vatican Council.
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