Conservatives ‘wrong’ to dismiss Amoris Laetitia

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has criticised conservative voices in the Church that claimed the Pope’s exhortation on the family was a personal reflection and one that can be dismissed.

Speaking at a press conference last week the cardinal, who was present in Rome for both of the synods that informed the exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, said it carried “great weight”.

His comments came days after US Cardinal Raymond Burke said that the exhortation did not represent the teaching of the magisterium and was rather Pope Francis’ “point of view”.

“The document is written as a reflection of the Holy Father on the work of the last two sessions of the Synod of Bishops,” he wrote in the National Catholic Register.

But speaking on Friday Cardinal Nichols said that it was wrong to suggest the document was a personal reflection and can be put to one side.

“I think that’s a lack of perception about the importance of Synodality in the Church – with Peter and under Peter,” he said. “This, to me, is a fine expression of the Pope as a pastor and in his understanding of the role of Peter which is to bring the community together and allow it to find a voice.”

During the press conference,  called to mark the conclusion of the Bishops’ Conference’s bi-annual plenary, the Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle (pictured below) said he felt that the exhortation spoke to him directly as a pastor. The bishop, who was present at the 2015 synod, said: “There has always been a huge tension between upholding Church teaching and helping people in particular situations.

“This document gives an emphasis to responding to individual situations. It upholds the teaching of the Church but enables pastors to respond in a very wholesome way to people’s situations.”

At the conclusion of the second synod in October 2015, Bishop Doyle apologised to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who felt they had been overlooked.

On Friday he said again that he understood their disappointment and that debate around LGBT issues was so complex it almost needed its own forum.

But he said that Amoris Laetitia’s call for people in non-traditional relationships to practise spiritual discernment and have recourse to their own conscience could apply to LGBT people as well as to divorced and remarried Catholics.