Just one month after the closing of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, Pope Francis is to open a major interreligious conference in Rome dedicated to traditional marriage.
Many of the discussions at the Synod dealt with proposals by Cardinal Walter Kasper and others regarding communion for the divorced and remarried, and the Church’s attitude to cohabiting Catholics and Catholics in homosexual relationships. The 17-19 November gathering, entitled “The Complementarity of Man and Woman”, is officially sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and co-sponsored by the pontifical councils for Promoting Christian Unity, for Interreligious Dialogue, and for the Family.
The heads of all four offices are scheduled to address the assembly, with Pope Francis presiding over the first morning session, following opening remarks by CDF Prefect Cardinal Gerhard Müller. Cardinal Müller has openly opposed Cardinal Kasper’s proposals on Communion for the divorced and remarried.
According to the US-based Catholic News Service, the conference will feature more than 30 speakers representing 23 countries and various Christian Churches, as well as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism and Sikhism. It will aim to “examine and propose anew the beauty of the relationship between the man and the woman, in order to support and reinvigorate marriage and family life for the flourishing of human society”.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, who has expressed strong reservations regarding the synod, will be among the participants. Other notable speakers will include Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Anglican Bishops Tom Wright and Michael Nazir-Ali, Revd Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in California, and Mercy Sister Prudence Allen, former holder of the chair of the philosophy department at St John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, whom Pope Francis named to the International Theological Commission in September.
Topics of lectures and videos will include “The Cradle of Life and Love: A Mother and Father for the World’s Children” and “The Sacramentality of Human Love According to St John Paul II”.
The conference comes amidst fierce disagreement in the aftermath of the family synod on the part of some cardinals and church leaders.
Archbishop Chaput, who did not attend the synod, says he was “very disturbed” by the debate over church teachings on gays and remarried Catholics, saying it sent a confusing message, and “confusion is of the devil”. He is expected to host Pope Francis in Philadelphia in September 2015 for the global World Meeting of Families.
His criticisms have been echoed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, who is Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, though he has said he expects to be moved from the post. He likened the Church to “a ship without a rudder” in an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva, though he insisted he was not speaking out against the Pope personally but raising concerns about his leadership.
However Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, who attended the summit, said in a homily in Dublin on Tuesday: “I am quite surprised at the remarks of some commentators within church circles about the recent Synod of Bishops, often making accusations of confusion where such confusion did not exist and so actually fomenting confusion. A longing for certainties may spring from personal uncertainty rather than strong faith. A strong – and indeed orthodox faith – is never afraid of discussion.”
Above: Pope Francis celebrated the marriage rite for 20 couples at a Mass in St Peter's Basilica in September. Efforts to legalise gay marriage have consistently been opposed by the Vatican. Photo: CNS
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