VATICAN CITY
CBC News
The Associated Press Posted: Oct 05, 2014
Pope Francis on Sunday called for a more creative, humble approach to family issues in the Catholic faithful.
Francis made the announcement during a mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to open a two-week meeting of 200 cardinals and bishops from around the world.
The most contentious issues under debate include bans on contraception and on holy communion for divorced faithful who remarry.
Many of the 200 attending the synod know that much of their flock, while considering themselves Catholic, defy church teaching on family matters and have gone their own way on sexual and family issues like contraception, pre-marital sex and divorce.
Francis said the synod was intended “to better nurture and tend the Lord’s vineyard, to help realize his dream, his loving plan for his people. In this way the Lord is asking us to care for the family.”
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, who has been organizing the synod, said many lay Catholics were consulted in the preparation of the working document.
The document itself, though, acknowledged that the church had a credibility problem.
“Responses from almost every part of the world frequently refer to the sexual scandals within the church (pedophilia in particular) and in general, to a negative experience with the clergy and other persons,” it said. “Sex scandals significantly weaken the church’s moral credibility.”
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