Dispatches

Right now a lot of work is being done behind the scenes at the synod of bishops in the Vatican as a team of eleven synod fathers assisted by expert staff sift through the hundreds of amendments and additions to the synod rsquo s interim-Report on the family and begin drafting its Final Report Giv

The synod is on the home stretch The drafting of the Final Report begins tomorrow Oct 16 The finished text will be presented to the plenary assembly on Saturday morning Oct 18 and voted on that afternoon There is a sense of great expectation even some anxiety as participants wait to read t

While very many synod fathers warmly welcomed and appreciated the midway report presented by the Relator General Cardinal Peter Erdo on Oct 13 a significant number expressed serious objections to parts of that interim text both in terms of content and style That text sought to summarize the ri

A new wind is blowing at the extraordinary synod of bishops on the family nbsp A wind that is bringing back lsquo the spirit rsquo and even lsquo the letter rsquo of the Second Vatican Council several synod fathers said nbsp It rsquo s a wind that reveals a clear desire for the Church to dia

One of the Vatican rsquo s top canon lawyers at the Synod of Bishops on the Family says the current process for the annulment of marriages in the Catholic Church could be streamlined and expanded to the benefit of very many people whose marriages have broken down This could be one of the positive f

The synod has just begun but there are already early signs that many aspects of church teaching and praxis are coming under scrutiny with demands for change including a change in the language it uses Seventy synod fathers spoke in the first 24 hours raising many issues including the need for the

In a major break with past praxis almost 50 years after Paul VI first established the synod of bishops Pope Francis has given the synod fathers the key elements for synodality something akin to a bill of rights that creates a climate of freedom He did so at the start of the synod rsquo s first pl

This week the church rsquo s Extraordinary Synod on the Family begins its deliberations on ldquo the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization rdquo nbsp Coincidentally the weekend also saw the opening of ldquo Gone Girl rdquo one of the most provocative and disturbi