In Wellington that is, during the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania (FCBCO) meeting.

Catholic Archbishop of Wellington Paul Martin and the Wellington Archdiocese hosted the three-day meeting.

In recent decades migration has become the key to the vast and diverse Oceania region's economy and sustainability.

"We heard the call of the vulnerable in our region... in search of work, or to escape the impacts of domestic challenges such as rising sea levels" the FCBCO says.

"How we provide pastoral care for those affected peoples emerged as a core theme in our prayer and reflection, and we will continue to dialogue as we move forward."

Pope agrees

Pope Francis is well-known for speaking out for migrants and refugees.

The Vatican has released an advance message from Francis before September's 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

In it, the Pope reminds us "it is possible to see in the migrants of our time, as in those of every age, a living image of God's people on their way to the eternal homeland".

The images of migrants and the biblical exodus share several similarities, he notes.

Like the people of Israel in the time of Moses, migrants often flee from oppression, abuse, insecurity, discrimination and lack of opportunities for development.

Migrants encounter many obstacles in their path - they are tried by thirst and hunger, they are exhausted by toil and disease, they are tempted by despair the Pope says.

"Emphasing the synodal dimension allows the Church to rediscover its itinerant nature, as the People of God journeying through history on pilgrimage, "migrating", we could say, toward the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yet the fundamental reality of the Exodus, of every exodus, is that God precedes and accompanies his people and all his children in every time and place, Francis says.

Asylum seekers back on Nauru

Asylum seekers in the Pacific and Oceania region risk much for little return.

Australian officials report that the number of asylum seekers on Nauru has topped 100, after two groups of 37 people were sent to join those already on the Pacific Island. All are adults, just one is female.

Australia's policy of deterrence against asylum seekers' boats is under strain, with three boats of migrants arriving in a single week in May.

These "unauthorised maritime arrivals" are never allowed to settle in Australia, even if they are deemed to be owed protection under refugee conventions.

Source

• The Guardian
• Holy See Press Office
• Catholic Culture
• Catholic News Agency
• Supplied - Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay

At his general audience on August 5, the Pope said such people are "still part of the Church", even though "their unions are contrary to the sacrament of marriage".

"As these situations especially affect children, we are aware of a greater urgency to foster a true welcome for these families in our communities.

"For how can we encourage these parents to raise their children in the Christian life, to give them an example of Christian faith, if we keep them at arm's length?" he asked.

He stressed that his predecessors "have worked diligently to let these families know they are still a part of the Church".

Acknowledging that "there is no easy solution for these situations", he said: "We can and must always encourage these families to participate in the Church's life, through prayer, listening to the Word of God, the Christian education of their children, and service to the poor."

The Church is always looking with the "heart of a mother" to seek out the good for people, the Pope said.

He also called on priests "to manifest openly and coherently the availability of the community" to welcome and encourage divorced and remarried persons.

The Pope added: "May everyone, especially Christian families, imitate the Good Shepherd, who knows all his sheep and excludes no one from his infinite love."

Quoting from his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ("The Joy of the Gospel"), the pontiff said: "The Church is called to always be the open house of the father."

"No closed doors," he told the audience, repeating: "No closed doors!"

Sources

• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Washington Post

In a recent interview, Cardinal Gerhard Muller said the synod in October will need to deal with "the challenge of finding pastoral solutions to ensure a stronger integration of people in difficult situations into the community".

But this must be done "without reducing the word of Jesus and the teaching of the Church", he said.

"We must help people, including Catholics, to gain a renewed understanding of the meaning of marriage and publicly committing oneself to another person," he added.

"There needs to be a review of the preparation and guidance processes for marriage."

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A seminar of aviation and airport chaplains in Rome this month noted that airports can be places of "difficult situations asking for extra care".

"We urge the ordinaries of the areas where there are international airports to increase the pastoral care of civil aviation taking into account the steady increase in the flow of travellers, migrants, pilgrims and those who make their travels possible.

"Even at smaller airports it is desirable the presence of a minister (priest, deacon, consecrated or lay person) specially appointed for this position."

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Vaticanista Sandro Magister, writing for the Italian L'Espresso magazine, said in the first two summers of his pontificate, Francis "gave space and visibility to the men and movements in favour of a reform of the pastoral care of the family and of sexual morality".

But during the extraordinary synod last October, Francis saw that resistance among the bishops to this reform was much wider and stronger than had been foreseen.

Since then, Francis has said "not a single word in support of the innovators", Magister wrote.

Indeed, Francis has spoken out on questions like abortion, divorce, homosexuality, and contraception 40 times since then, the commentator added.

And in doing so, the Pope has spoken "without swerving a millimetre from the strict teaching of his predecessors Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI".

Francis has also hit out "above all" against "gender ideology" and its "ambitions to colonise the world", Magister added.

The article in L'Espresso also noted that Francis has toughened up on divorce.

According to Magister, Francis recently said of the idea of giving Communion to the divorced and remarried that "it doesn't solve anything".

But the Pope knows that expectations are very high in this matter "and he knows that he himself has fostered them".

"But he has distanced himself from them. ‘Overblown expectations', he now calls them, knowing he cannot satisfy them," Magister continued.

"Because after all the proclamations of a more collegial government of the Church, of the Pope and the bishops together, it is a given that Francis will side with the will of the bishops, the great majority of them conservative, and give up on imposing a reform that will be rejected by most."

Sources

• L'Espresso
• Image: Crux

A letter written by Benedict was published as an introduction to a book by former Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The book was titled "Faith and the Common Good: The Christian Proposal to Contemporary Society".

In the letter to Cardinal Bertone, Benedict wrote that "the service of a shepherd cannot be only limited only to the Church".

This is even though "in the first place, we are entrusted with the care of the faithful and of those who are directly seeking faith".

The Church, he maintained, "is part of the world, and therefore it can properly play its service only if it takes care of the world in its entirety".

The Pope emeritus wrote that the "Word of God concerns the totality of reality, and this actuality places on the Church a general responsibility".

This is the reason why the Church "must be involved in the efforts that humanity and society put into action" for a path toward justice.

It is also why the Church must "find a way of reasoning" that would also include non-believers.

"Pastoral care does not just deal with the fact that we in the Church provide to the faithful the service of the Sacraments and of the announcement of the Gospel," Benedict XVI wrote.

Pastoral care, he explained, "definitely includes the intellectual dimension".

That means that "only if we share the perspective and questions of our times we will be able to understand the Word of God in present times".

Benedict XVI added that "only if we (shepherds) take part in the opportunity and needs of our times, will the sacraments reach out to men with their actual strength".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Guardian

According to the Catholic News Agency, Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes wrote a letter to a German language newspaper objecting to statements by two prelates from his homeland.

In February, German bishops' conference president Cardinal Reinhard Marx said: "We are not a branch of Rome."

"We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here," Cardinal Marx said.

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabruck - a fellow synod delegate with Cardinal Marx - urged that "the reality of men and the world" be a source for theological understanding.

Cardinal Cordes, who is president emeritus of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, stated if Cardinal Marx wanted to put up Germany as an example, he is being fooled by wishful thinking.

Cardinal Cordes, 80, noted that a recent survey shows that only 16 per cent of Catholics in western Germany believe God to be personal.

"The existing German ecclesial apparatus is completely unfit to work against growing secularism," he wrote.

He also slammed Cardinal Marx's comment about not being a branch of Rome as more suited "to the counter of a bar".

"The president argues about the drama of the divorced and remarried.

"This matter reaches far beyond regional particularities of a pragmatic nature, of a given mentality and cultural background."

"This matter is bound to the very centre of theology," Cardinal Cordes wrote.

"In this field not even a cardinal can loosen such a complex Gordian knot in a single sword stroke. He has the sacramental theology of the Council of Trent."

In response to Bishop Bode's comments, Cardinal Cordes stated Vatican II taught would be erroneous to see the "signs of the times" in the life of people simply as a "source of faith".

In contrast, he noted, the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, Dei Verbum, "leaves no doubt that faith in the Catholic Church feeds solely from Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Image: Lifesitenews

The relatio post disceptationem is a summary of the discussions held at the synod so far.

It was read out in the presence of Pope Francis and the synod delegates on Monday morning.

It stated the Church should challenge itself to find a "fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and marriage.

The document also noted that gay Catholics' orientation should be valued and that they have "gifts and qualities" to offer parishes.

While there are "moral problems" with homosexual unions, "there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners".

But the text noted that same-sex marriage cannot be considered to be on the same footing as marriage between a man and a woman.

Senior Vatican commentator John Thavis called the document "an earthquake" in the Church's attitude towards gay people.

"The document clearly reflects Pope Francis' desire to adopt a more merciful pastoral approach on marriage and family issues," he said.

The text called for the Church to recognise the "seeds of the Word that have spread beyond its visible and sacramental boundaries" to cohabiting couples, civil marriages and to Catholics who are divorced and remarried.

It acknowledged disagreements between synod members over Communion for divorced and civilly remarried people and called for greater study of the issue.

Through the rest of this week the synod members are to meet in small groups, divided by language, to discuss and edit this document with a view to creating a final document for the synod for submission to Francis.

That final document is expected to be released to the public and to be used as a type of blue-print for another synod in 2015, which will deliver a final report to the Pope.

Pope Francis made several last minute appointments to the group that prepared the half-way document.

Sources

• Text of Relatio document
• Huffington Post
• The Tablet
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican News

But that doesn't mean a change in Church doctrine, two leading cardinals have said.

"Everybody wants to show God's love and mercy, but it also brings you to very difficult situations and as Christians we follow Jesus," said Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The Church has to be intellectually coherent and consistent, he said, adding that "Catholics are people who stand under the Scriptures, we are people of tradition".

"But we believe in the development of doctrine, not in doctrinal back-flips," the Table reported him saying.

Cardinal Pell added: "I confess that I might have been tempted to hope that Jesus might have been a little softer on divorce; he wasn't, and I'm speaking with him."

Last week, synod members said the Church should stop using "harsh language" such as " living in sin", "intrinsically disordered" and "contraceptive mentality" in aspects of its teaching.

Too often the theology of marriage was "filtered through harsh language", members said.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said the question of language had been a major part of discussions in the gathering's opening days.

He said it is a question of the consistency and immutability of the Church's truth.

"But our burning desire is to find a language that can present it in a more gracious, compelling and cogent way."

Both the cardinals stressed that bishops at the synod were acutely aware of the problems facing family life in their communities.

Australian Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne told Vatican Radio that what is needed is language that is faithful to Church teaching, but which also engages with the experiences of families.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Crux Now