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Bishops say gays have gifts to offer
Catholic Bishops meeting at the Vatican on family issues say gays should be accepted and that there are 'positive aspects' to a couple living together without being married.
PT1M32S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3hxq2 620 349 October 14, 2014 - 7:37AMVatican City: An important meeting of bishops at the Vatican used remarkably conciliatory language towards gay and divorced Catholics, signalling a possible easing of the church's rigid attitudes on homosexuality and the sanctity of marriage.
The gathering of bishops from around the world called on pastors to recognise, among other things, the "positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation".
Compassionate leader: Pope Francis smiles as he talks to cardinals during the synod of bishops. Photo: Reuters
Roman Catholic gay rights groups around the world hailed the paper as a breakthrough, but Church conservatives called it a betrayal of traditional family values.
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The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops, said the Church should challenge itself to find "a fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.
While the text did not signal any change in the Church's condemnation of homosexual acts or gay marriage, it used less judgmental and more compassionate language than seen in Vatican statements before the 2013 election of Pope Francis.
Gathering of bishops: Pope Francis leads the synod in Paul VI's Hall at the Vatican. Photo: Reuters
"Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a further space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a church that offers them a welcoming home," said the document, known by its Latin name "relatio".
"Are our communities capable of proving that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?" it asked.
It called on clergymen to treat divorced Catholics who have remarried civilly with respect, "avoiding any language or behaviour that might make them feel discriminated against".
Consecrating the wine: Pope Francis, right, supported by the Archbishop of Budapest, Peter Erdo, celebrates the opening Mass of the synod of bishops in St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
New Ways Ministry, a leading US Catholic gay rights group, called it a "major step forward", praising it for being devoid of the "major gloom and doom and apocalyptic horror" that accompanied past Vatican pronouncements on homosexuals.
But John Smeaton, co-founder of the conservative group Voice of the Family, said: "Those who are controlling the synod have betrayed Catholic parents worldwide."
The document remains "a work in progress", according to the synod's special secretary, Monsignor Bruno Forte, who cautioned it could be modified as working groups more closely scrutinise and debate individual points.
A final document will be issued by the synod next week. Although the gathering is unlikely to change church doctrine, its conversation will set – and potentially change – both the tone and the practice of the faith in parishes around the world.
Also to come is a year's worth of debate over the questions and perspectives raised by the document among local churches, leading to a second synod next October, at which the Pope will draw his conclusions.
The Vatican document said the 1.2 billion-member Church should see the development of its position on homosexuals as "an important educational challenge" for the global institution.
While the Church continued to affirm that gay unions "cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman", it should recognise there could be positive aspects to relationships in same-sex couples.
The paper also said there were "constructive elements" to heterosexual couples who were married only in civil services or who were living together, but stressed that Church marriages were "the ideal".
Pope Francis has said the Church must be more compassionate with homosexuals, saying last year: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"
New York Times, Reuters
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