17. okt. 2014
Grant Gallicho, Commonweal Magazine, skriver bl.a.:
At this morning's Vatican press conference, not much news. Notable comments came from Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops conference--and one of the nine cardinals advising Pope Francis on church governance. Marx said he was surprised by the media's response to the synod's midterm report. He said that the synod has been marked by free and frank expression, and that the contributions of Latin American and African bishops have been especially important. Marx explained that most German bishops support Cardinal Walter Kasper's proposal that the church find a way for certain divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion. Kasper has posed a question; he hasn't come up with a definitive plan. "But I see many people think differently." Yet, "obviously" church practice can change. And "saying that the doctrine will never change...is a restrictive view." Marx also noted that Kasper's proposal isn't the only issue facing the synod: "We don't want to speak only of this."
The cardinal remains convinced that the church needs to find new moral language to address the challenges facing families today--the language of black and white, all or nothing won't do. Human life is much more complex. For example, Marx noted that half of Catholic marriages in Germany are not sacramental because one of the partners is not baptized. This is why, in part, Marx suggested that there may be a working group to study the law of gradualism (the idea that men and woman approach a moral ideal in steps over time). The magisterium, Marx argued, is not a collection of static phrases. We must think about the relationship between docrtine and pastoral care.
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