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Germany’s bishops have denied that a conference dubbed a “shadow council” in Rome was about changing Church teaching.
The heads of the Swiss, German and French bishops’ conferences organised a “study day” held at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University last week.
It was attended by nine bishops, 17 professors and priests, and selected media representatives.
One report stated the study day aimed to explore various “pastoral innovations” ahead of the Synod on the Family in October.
Another reported aim was to reflect on a new “theology of love” that critics say would pave the way for Church recognition of same-sex relationships.
An Austrian Catholic news outlet stated many bishops who were “not sympathetic” to the issues discussed were “neither informed nor invited to the meeting”.
But spokesman for the German bishops, Matthias Kopp, denied that the bishops “have an agenda to change Church teaching”.
The study day included an in-depth look at Church law on the family – not just on annulments – and on biblical visions of the family, Mr Kopp said.
At their annual meeting in January, the presidents of the German, Swiss and French bishops’ conferences decided that as part of their synod preparation they should “reflect together and bring together experts not just from one country”.
The French Catholic agency I.Media said much of the discussion “focused on welcoming the divorced and remarried in the Church, in light of the Scriptures, but also morality”.
Among the points made by individual participants, the agency said, were: Church teaching and discipline are not immovable, but develop over time and “a second marriage can be an authentic union”.
Other points individuals made were: the indissolubility of marriage is an ideal or “utopia” to strive for; that God may be present in a stable and faithful homosexual union, but the union is not a marriage; that the Church must find a language that is less “blunt” or harsh to speak about people in situations that do not measure up to the Gospel ideal.
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News category: World.
