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A senior Italian bishop says the Church should listen to arguments for gay relationships, Communion for divorcees and ending mandatory celibacy for priests.
Bishop Nunzio Galantino, who is secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI), said he wants Church leaders to open their minds on these issues.
“My wish for the Italian Church is that it is able to listen without any taboo to the arguments in favour of married priests, the Eucharist for the divorced, and homosexuality,” he told the La Nazione newspaper.
These topics are likely to come up for discussion at the synod of bishops assembly at the Vatican in October.
Bishop Galantino said the Church had invested a lot of its time on issues relating to the sanctity of life, perhaps at the expense of other important issues.
He said: “In the past we have concentrated too much on abortion and euthanasia. It mustn’t be this way because in the middle there’s real life which is constantly changing.”
“I don’t identify with the expressionless person who stands outside the abortion clinic reciting their rosary, but with young people, who are still against this practice, but are instead fighting for quality of life, their health, their right to work,” the bishop added.
He said he believed the arrival of Pope Francis represented a unique chance to usher in liberal reforms.
“With Pope Francis the Italian Church has an extraordinary opportunity to reposition itself on spiritual moral and cultural beliefs,” he said.
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Galantino interim secretary-general of the CEI last December and made the position permanent in April.
Last September, in an interview published in Jesuit outlets, Pope Francis responded to criticism that he did not talk enough about contraception, abortion and gay marriage.
The Pope said the Church’s teaching are clear and he agreed with them, but was not necessary to insist on these issues all the time.
“The Church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines,” he said.
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