Will the bishops be any more open about their second consultation on family?

So the Vatican has asked national bishops’ conferences around the world to seek input from Catholics at “all levels” about how the Church should respond to sometimes difficult questions of modern family life, such as divorce and remarriage. It was reported this week that bishops have been asked to respond in mercy and avoid basing their pastoral care solely on current Catholic doctrine. This comes a year after the English and Welsh bishops’ conference decided to publish widely the Vatican consultative questionnaire on the family, in preparation for last October’s extraordinary synod and next year’s ordinary synod on the family. Catholics welcomed this move even though the questionnaire had been amateurishly constructed and was therefore not at all acad