Church urged to be more open in debate

The Catholic Church should listen to all the arguments in favour of gay relationships, Communion for remarried divorcees, and ending mandatory celibacy for priests, one of Italy’s most senior bishops insisted, writes Hannah Roberts.

The secretary general of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) Nunzio Galantino, bishop of the southern Diocese of Cassano all’Jonio, told La Nazione newspaper on Monday that he wanted church leaders to open their minds to different views. He said: “My wish for the Italian Church is that it is able to listen without any taboo to the arguments in favour of married priests, the Eucharist for the divorced, and homosexuality.”

Bishop Galantino, 65, said: “We have concentrated too much on abortion and euthanasia. It mustn’t be this way, in the middle there’s real life … I don’t identify with the expressionless person outside the abortion clinic reciting their Rosary.”