A major Catholic gathering in Dublin will be focussed on promoting the entirety of Pope Francis’ document on the family rather than the “contentious points”, the cardinal helping to organise the event explained on Thursday.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Prefect of the Laity, Family and Life dicastery, stressed that the hotly debated points in the Pope’s apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia”- such as allowing remarried divorcees to receive communion - were only “contentious in the eyes of a few.”
Following the publication of “Amoris Laetitia” there has been vocal opposition from certain parts of the Church to admitting divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacraments, and in some cases a differing approaches among bishops.
Speaking to journalists at the Vatican today, the cardinal said that the World Meeting of Families, due to take place from 22-26 August in Dublin, will focus on an inclusive message of promoting the Christian understanding of marriage and the family.
“It’s not going to focus exclusively on chapter eight [of Amoris Laetitia],” the cardinal said in a reference to the chapter which looks at divorced and remarried. “The intention of ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is to speak about the need that our world has to take a serious look at marriage and family life, to promote the concept of marriage and family life.”
The meeting of families, the cardinal explained during a presentation of new resources for the gathering, will not be getting into theological arguments but try to be “pastoral and practical” and look at ways of assisting couples “when things don’t go well.”
Francis is widely expected to travel to Dublin for the event although his presence at the gathering has not been officially confirmed by the Vatican. Cardinal Farrell said today that the Pope had indicated to Farrell, the bishops of Ireland, the Irish Prime Minister and the country’s foreign minister that he wanted to go.
But the cardinal said it was “beyond my pay grade” to say whether the Pope will travel to Northern Ireland. John Paul II, the last Pope to visit Ireland, was unable to go north of the border during his 1979 visit due to the troubles of that period and there is an expectation in some quarters that Francis will visit this part of the country. But Vatican sources have made clear that the Pope wants to focus his visit on the families meeting in Dublin rather than detract attention from it.
Farrell, a former Bishop of Dallas, was born in Ireland and was appointed by Francis in August 2016 to lead the new laity, family and life department. He is renowned as both a capable administrator and pastoral moderate.
He said the meeting in Dublin does not “exclude those who have different views to us or are from different faith traditions”, but is also dedicated to promoting the Christian vision of marriage between a man and a woman.
When asked his reaction to Ireland’s decision to hold a referendum on abortion and introduce same-sex marriage legislation which both amounted to a rejection of Catholic teaching, Farrell replied: “I am sure not only the Pope and most of us Catholics who believed in the sanctity of life will be upset. Who is going to defend the rights of the innocent child? If the child was two days old it would be protected by a number of rights.”
The cardinal said that a full programme for the Dublin event is due to be published at the end of this month, and the itinerary will include a session on child protection led by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Pope’s top adviser on responding to sexual abuse in the church.
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