The French Catholic Church has received more than 10,000 responses to the Vatican survey for October's synod on the family, according to Montpellier Archbishop Pierre-Marie Carré, vice president of the bishops’ conference. Many were pleased to be asked their opinion and hoped this would become a regular practice.
Most respondents wanted the Church to continue promoting ideals but recognise they are often not easy to achieve, the archbishop told the Catholic daily La Croix. Many want the Church to show more mercy and less judgment towards the divorced and remarried, while a minority upholds the traditional teaching about marriage. The synod was bound to disappoint some Catholics, but Pope Francis's conclusion due a year after the synod will be the decisive outcome, he said.
Archbishop Carré gave no other hint of the results, but a La Croix survey got 640 responses from readers who in large part also called for more Church acceptance of divorced and remarried Catholics.
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