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VATICAN CITY – A few days before the start of the most important Catholic gathering since the 1960s, Pope Francis dropped a theological bombshell. In a response to conservative bishops concerned about his outspokenness toward the LGBTQ+ community, the 86-year-old pope said he could imagine priests blessing same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis if those blessings are not enough in the sacrament of marriage.
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In the weeks that followed, the question of how and whether to welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics became, according to participants, the most contentious issue of the month-long synod that ended Saturday in Vatican City. Facing opposition from senior clerics from Eastern Europe, Africa and elsewhere, the wording of a final report, sections of which were approved by at least a two-thirds majority of voting members, fell far short of the inclusive language previously used by the pope himself.
The document did not even mention the term “LGBTQ+,” as used in preliminary materials. The most she dared to say was: “People who feel marginalized or excluded from the church because of their marital situation, identity and sexuality also ask that they be listened to and accompanied and that their dignity be defended.”
In addition, “sexual orientation” is brought under a range of ethical issues described as “new” and “controversial,” including artificial intelligence.
“We are a family and we must respect everyone’s pace,” the synod’s general secretary, Cardinal Mario Grech, told reporters late Saturday, questioning the synod’s position on homosexuality and other issues. “We must travel together.”
The synod – a meeting of the church’s highest advisory body, which for the first time included lay people and women as voting members – is considered a milestone in the church. The delegates arrived after extensive consultations within regions and countries on the issues facing the Church. They will now take a break, consult with their local churches and meet again next October before likely presenting final recommendations to the pope.
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Delegates described a civil, constructive atmosphere in recent weeks, but also differences of opinion, including over the role of women in the church and the issue of priestly celibacy. But the divide in LGBTQ+ reception highlights the extent of the ideological divides dividing a global church of 1.3 billion Catholics, as well as the difficult road ahead for Francis as he seeks to unite the faithful and preserve his legacy in the final phase of his papacy.
Before the synod, conservative Catholics – particularly in the United States and Eastern Europe – had derided the event as a cover for liberal reforms, while progressives in Western Europe and elsewhere dared to hope that it might encourage long-awaited changes in official teachings. But the caution suggested a high hurdle for liberals seeking rapid change.
“I’m a little disillusioned,” said Rosanna Virgili, a theologian at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. “It looks more like a new version of Catholic teaching.”
The synod called it “urgent” to ensure that women can “participate in decision-making processes and assume responsible roles in pastoral care and pastoral care.” But the delegates were clearly divided over how this should be done. Women in the priesthood were not mentioned. The document actually called for “continuing theological and pastoral research” on women deacons. But even this move was met with opposition, as dissenters “expressed fears that this proposal reflected a dangerous anthropological confusion.”
The two paragraphs on female deacons – which did not clearly support this idea – passed the two-thirds threshold of the synod with the lowest number of votes. The document also recommended that “appropriately trained women” could be judges in canonical trials.
There were also disagreements over maintaining priestly celibacy, an issue of great importance to Catholics in remote regions where there is a shortage of clergy. The synod’s conclusion was simply that the issue deserved “further consideration.”
The pope has sent mixed signals on both issues. Ahead of the meeting, Francis said there was no “clear and binding doctrine” on the issue, adding that it could be “a subject of investigation.” But in an interview published this year by two journalists, Francis, when he dug deeper, seemed to find little reason to ordain women or give in to calls for married priests. In 2020, Francis decided against allowing married priests into the Amazon region, which is suffering from a severe shortage of priests.
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Vatican synods – which have historically been held with only bishops and cardinals as voting members – typically take place two to three times per decade. But the two-year synod convened by Francis is the most ambitious church summit since the Second Vatican Council in 1962, which ushered in major reforms including celebrating the Catholic Mass in national languages, not just Latin.
Several participants – who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Vatican asked delegates to keep the synod’s internal workings secret – said there was no issue that divided the advisory body more than the issue of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
The same pope who made headlines in 2013 when he said, “Who am I to judge?” When asked about gay priests, he signaled before and during the gathering that the door was even wider open for the LGBTQ+ community . As the event approached, the pope sent a written response to concerned conservative bishops, reiterating that same-sex couples could receive Catholic blessings — but not the sacrament of marriage — on individual cases as determined by local church officials.
On October 17, with the synod in full swing, Francis symbolically welcomed Sister Jeannine Gramick to the Vatican. Gramick, an American nun, was founded in 1999 by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – the future Pope Benedict XVI. – sanctioned for their LGBTQ+ advocacy.
A week later, Francis met with a delegation from the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, an LGBTQ+ group.
But conservative bishops from Poland, Hungary, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Australia and elsewhere vehemently opposed same-sex blessings, calling them tantamount to toleration of “sin” and a “colonial” imposition of liberal Western Europeans. In public and private comments, they described homosexuality as “disgusting” and “unnatural.” Officially, Catholic teaching states that homosexuality is “inherently immoral and contrary to natural law.”
One delegate, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, strongly represented these teachings. In a response to written questions from The Washington Post, he said that he sometimes feels that “the ‘non-Catholic’ voice is more audible at the synod than the ‘Catholic’ one.” He specifically appealed to the liberal German church – where priests already bless same-sex couples – for supporting reforms that are “richly based on Protestant theology and the language of modern politics.”
He said that for LGBTQ+ people, a truthful “encounter with Christ” means “a conversion, a turning away from sin and the adoption of a lifestyle consistent with the Gospel.”
“Blessings or blessings of homosexual unions would mean that the church approves of the lifestyle of homosexual unions (although it does not equate them with marriages), which also means sex between same-sex couples,” Gadecki wrote. “What was always defined as sin in the Judeo-Christian tradition would now become something positive.”
Liberal delegates tried to forcefully counter these arguments. One delegate told the story of a woman who died by suicide after failing to receive church absolution because of her bisexuality. Another delegate – Rev. James Martin, an American priest who ministers to the LGBTQ+ community and was chosen by Francis as a delegate – told the story of a long-term same-sex couple in which a man had carefully cared for his cancer-stricken partner before he died . He asked the synod to consider whether this was not a real sign of “love”.
In an interview, Martin declined to confirm details of the synod debate but said, “I’m not just disappointed that LGBTQ [people] were cut out, but also that the discussions we had, which were passionate on both sides, were not reflected in the final document.”
“But I’m not surprised,” Martin said. “There was great resistance to the issue among many members.”