Speaking in Germany on October 29, Cardinal Kasper said the synod "stated the general principle, but not the possible consequences".

"That was the only way to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority on this issue," he said.

"The synod opened the door, so to speak, for the admission of divorced and remarried people to the sacraments in individual cases but it did not stride through that door," Cardinal Kasper said

The synod did not want to commit the Pope, but to leave him a free rein, the cardinal added.

Cardinal Kasper said discussions at the synod on whether divorced and civilly remarried people could be admitted to the sacraments in individual cases or not weren't easy.

"The discussions were not easy as pretty firmly entrenched positions often clashed," he said.

"No bishop questioned the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

"The question was how to apply this teaching to difficult, complex and often confused situations without infringing upon Church teaching itself."

With the end of the synod, the synodal process had arrived at a decisive stage but had not yet reached its goal.

The Pope's apostolic post-synodal exhortation would be the final, binding conclusion, Cardinal Kasper said.

The cardinal said neither conservatives nor progressives were the winners at the synod.

"The true winner is the Pope. His reform course was confirmed by more than a two-thirds majority," Cardinal Kasper said.

Mercy was the correct and Christian sound judgement when applying justice, he said.

"It does not see human beings as purely legal cases and if need be lets the guillotine down," but takes the merciful approach which does not reinstate past wrongs but opens up a new chance.

"In this way the law does not have a punishing but a medicinal, healing function," Cardinal Kasper said.

The synodal process showed the Church not as a finger-wagging teacher, but as a listening, compassionate mother, he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Guardian

Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias told The Tablet the story indicates there are people who want to damage the Pope.

"It's the first thought that came to me. Somebody is trying to weaken the Pope's position and to indicate 'Ok now that's it, he is just here for a short time'," said Cardinal Gracias.

The cardinal thought the motivation for the story could be to try to "put the brakes" on the Pope's reforms.

"It has something to do with his popularity. What he is saying is just the Gospel so I can't see why they are upset up about it," he added.

Cardinal Gracias is a member of the Pope's advisory "C9" council of cardinals.

German Cardinal Walter Kasper said of the story: "It's evident to me that some people don't like this Pope. Maybe they were trying to influence us (in the synod)."

"Certain people, both inside and outside the Church, are nervous about the outcome of the synod," he said.

The tumour story was an attempt to "upset" the final days of deliberation at the gathering, the cardinal said.

The story alleging Pope Francis saw a Japanese neurosurgeon about a brain tumour was denounced by the Vatican as "completely false".

The editor of Quotidiano Nazionale, the Italian newspaper that first published the story, has denied assertions that he is part of a conspiracy against the Pope.

Andrea Cangini said that "time will tell who was right"—the newspaper or the Vatican.

Cangini said he would not violate a confidentiality agreement with his source for the story.

Brain cancer specialist Dr Takanori Fukushima released a statement saying that he had never medically examined the Pope.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic Culture
• The Telegraph
• Image: Church Militant

Cardinal Reinhard Marx told a Munich meeting the synod may not be ready to approve allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

The cardinal said "it will not be simple" to bring this about.

Cardinal Marx has been a supporter of Cardinal Walter Kasper's proposal of a penitential pathway for Catholics in such situations, that could, in some cases, lead to them being able to receive Communion.

The proposal has already received the support of the German bishops' conference, which Cardinal Marx heads.

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Camaldolese monk Guido Innocenzo Gargano, a professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, put forward the theory in the Urbaniana University Journal earlier this year.

Now, in a new essay, he has reiterated the theory, and has replied to critics of his earlier work.

Matthew's Gospel has Jesus saying: "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning." (Mt 19:8)

Fr Gargano has based his theory on what he sees as the possible proximity of Jesus to the "moderate Essenes" element of Judaism.

This group took their inspiration from two classes of laws - one written "in the stars" predating Abraham and Noah - and the more lenient one of Moses that addressed reality and humanity's "hardness of heart".

Fr Gargano also factored in the statement by Jesus that: "I have not come to abolish the law [of Moses], but to fulfil it."

Therefore he has "come to the conclusion that Jesus did not intend to abolish the repudiation permitted by Moses and even indicated the possibility of using it to reach the objective intended by the Father from the beginning of the creation of man and woman".

Fr Gargano asked if "we are truly legitimised by the words of Jesus not to offer any possibility to the repentant sinner who admits he has gone wrong, but is sincerely determined to start over again?"

"Anyone who has a minimum of pastoral experience knows very well how much suffering is hidden in so many personal situations of this kind."

Fr Gargano's work was cited in a recent German article by Cardinal Walter Kasper, which described how a penitential pathway for remarried divorcees might work.

But the biblical scholar's work has also generated "lively reactions", according to one report.

Sources

• L'Espresso
• The Tablet
• Image: Datab

The cardinal has long promoted a proposal to allow divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics to receive Communion after a period of repentance.

He raised the topic during a talk at a consistory of cardinals in Rome in February last year.

In an interview with EWTN aired last week, Cardinal Kasper said Pope Francis wanted him to put the question forward and after the consistory talk expressed his general satisfaction.

"But not the end, not in the . . . I wouldn't say he approved the proposal, no, no, no," Cardinal Kasper said.

Last October he told the Catholic News Service: "I had the impression the Pope is open for a responsible, limited opening of the situation . . . I have the impression the Pope is ready to reaffirm such a thing, but now it depends also on the voices of the bishops in the synod."

However, Cardinal Kasper told CNS, the Pope wants a great majority of the bishops behind him.

"He does not like division within the Church . . ."

Cardinal Kasper told EWTN his is undeterred by opposition to his idea from various bishops' conferences.

"I know many cardinals, I know many bishops who are more on my side," he told EWTN.

Last year, he said a "growing majority" of synod members supported his position.

Cardinal Kasper has gained the nickname, "the Pope's theologian".

Pope Francis has said that reading Cardinal Kasper's book "Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life" has done him "much good".

In the book, Cardinal Kasper looked at empathy and compassion as a starting point for theological reflection on the topic.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Register
• Catholic News Service
• Paulist Press
• Image: Irish Examiner

Speaking at a conference in Washington, DC, Cardinal Kasper said Francis wants to retool the Catholic hierarchy.

This will result in a hierarchy that not only defines and enforces Church teachings, but also listens and responds to how laypeople understand God's will.

The concept of "sensus fidei" - the capacity of individual believers and the Church as a whole to discern the truths of faith - are important to Francis, Cardinal Kasper said.

That concept, Cardinal Kasper said, "was emphasised by the council . . . [but] Francis now wishes to give it complete meaning".

"He wants a listening magisterium - that makes its position, yes," the cardinal said, "but makes its position after it has heard what the Spirit says to its churches."

"Catholicity includes ... all," Cardinal Kasper said.

"Women and men, young and old, clergy and laity. The laity are not only recipients, but also actors. Not only objects, but much more, subjects in the Church."

Cardinal Kasper, who is a former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also spoke at length about ecumenical dialogue.

He called for a "down-to-earth ecumenism" that is not limited to academic theological discussions.

But even after decades of work, Cardinal Kasper said, the ecumenical dialogues are at a perilous point.

"Agreement is nowhere in sight," he said.

"This situation is extremely dangerous. If we are not in agreement of where we are and going, there is a great danger that we will disperse in different directions."

"The great expectations following the council have not been followed," he said. "We are at a standstill."

"An ecumenism of love, of encounter, of listening and friendship are what is needed."

Cardinal Kasper also touched on the so-called "hermeneutic of continuity", which stresses that Vatican II did not repeal earlier Church teachings or traditions.

"The hermeneutic of continuity must - for the sake of the future, the sustainability of Christianity - always be a hermeneutic of reform," he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Lutheran World

In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Cardinal Burke said "we are all bound by the Magisterium".

"But some synod fathers, above all Cardinal Kasper, want to change it."

Cardinal Kasper's "merciful" solution for remarried divorcees who wish to receive Communion was discussed at last October's extraordinary synod on the family.

Cardinal Burke said a change to Church teaching at the next synod in October would present him with a dilemma.

"I would have to speak to the Holy Father and ask him how I can remain loyal to the truth and at the same time not break my vow of obedience," he said.

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Speaking at a Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral during Holy Week, Cardinal Nichols warned such hostilities can cause "collateral damage".

His comments came a week after he rebuked the 461 priests in England and Wales for going to the press about a letter they signed calling on the synod to resist changes to the Church's moral teaching.

According to The Tablet, the cardinal said in his homily: "It is wrong, in my view, to think or speak of this synod as a battle, a battle between contesting sides."

"Battles have winners and losers," he continued.

"And often ‘collateral damage' is the most tragic consequence of hostilities."

Last month, at the launch of a book about Pope Francis, German Cardinal Walter Kasper called for prayer ahead of the synod "because a battle is going on".

Debate on issues such as allowing Communion for those divorced and remarried to be raised at October's Synod on the Family has exposed tensions in the Church, another article in The Tablet stated.

Bishop Peter Doyle, of Northampton, who with Cardinal Nichols will represent England and Wales at the synod, said there is a "puzzle" facing the synod.

"It's about upholding the constant teaching of the Church while at the same time trying to find ways of meeting painful situations with the compassion of the Lord," Bishop Doyle said.

Meanwhile, another English prelate, Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster, has drawn controversy for refusing to meet local members of the reformist group A Call to Action (ACTA).

An ACTA spokesman said Pope Francis wants the synod to get the Church to catch up with the modern face of the family, whose issues included gay marriage as well as divorce and remarriage.

Bishop Campbell said the group had no recognition or approval by the Catholic Church in his diocese.

The bishop also strongly rejected any insinuation that he is in disagreement with Pope Francis.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Tablet
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Cardinal Kasper was speaking at the England launch of his book "Pope Francis's Revolution of Tenderness and Love".

Bishops attending the synod, scheduled for October 4-25, will be called to discern ways the Church can communicate joy to all families, he said.

This will include families who have experienced the brokenness of a sacramental marriage, he said.

"Hopefully, the synod will be able to find a common answer, with a large majority, which will not be a rupture with tradition, but a doctrine that is a development of tradition," the cardinal said.

He added that if the Church believes it has a "living tradition", it means that there is room for it to develop.

Last February, Cardinal Kasper addressed a consistory of cardinals in Rome.

At the end of his speech, he mentioned possible ways that, in limited cases, divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, who had not had their first marriage annulled, might be able to come to Communion.

This was one of the topics of strong debate at last year's extraordinary synod.

"The Pope and the synod [this year] must decide" what steps to take next, Cardinal Kasper said, "but decide after they listen".

The cardinal said Catholics should pray that the Holy Spirit guides the synod's deliberations because there is "a battle going on".

Cardinal Kasper also spoke about Pope Francis's preaching about the mercy of God and the Pope calling a special Holy Year of Mercy for 2015-16.

When the Pope speaks about God's mercy, the cardinal said, it "captures the hearts of many people" because it is a source of joy and of hope.

"Mercy is, theologically, the expression of the inner nature of God: God is love."

God cannot be other than merciful "if he is to be true to his own essence, he has to be merciful", the cardinal said.

The Church, as the sacrament of God's presence in the world, must spread God's mercy, he said.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: John Thavis

"Remaining in the Truth of Christ" contained contributions from the Vatican's doctrinal chief Cardinal Gerhard Müller, church historian Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and American Cardinal Raymond Burke.

The book aimed to counter arguments put forward by German Cardinal Walter Kasper who had proposed a way to that could see divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to Communion.

The book was mailed to all the fathers at the extraordinary synod on the family. Some received it.

Vatican sources allege the head of the synod's secretariat, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, ordered the books be intercepted.

This is because they would "interfere with the synod".

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In light of the fact that the early Church also faced this perplexing pastoral challenge, Kasper introduces a number of witnesses who, he argues, potentially indicate a way forward for the contemporary Church toward a pastoral praxis that goes "beyond both rigorism and laxity." (p. 31).

However, in invoking the early Christian sources, it appears that Kasper, despite acknowledging that the response of the early church Fathers was "not uniform" (p. 31), somewhat misrepresents the evidence, and does so in such a way as to advance his argument in a certain direction as though it were supported by the sources he cites.

Moreover, having quoted just one author, he goes on to give the impression that the statement reflects a united and considered witness, even a consensus proceeding from certain justifications and eventually "confirmed" at a conciliar level (pp. 31 and 37).

Limiting itself to the Greek sources explicitly mentioned by Kasper—Origen, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Council of Nicaea—and leaving aside the position of Augustine and later western Christian practice, it is the purpose of this report to clarify what in fact these sources actually say, not in order to discredit the cardinal or his proposals, but all the better to elucidate the real difficulties currently faced by the Church in its effort faithfully and pastorally to bring the Gospel to bear in the concrete life-situations of divorced and remarried Catholics. Continue reading

Sources

• Adam G. Cooper, The Catholic World Report
• Image: St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College

Adam G. Cooper is senior lecturer at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family in Melbourne, Australia.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Walter Kasper said women need to be present at every level of the Church and given positions of full responsibility.

Cardinal Kasper, who addressed the world's cardinals at a consistory last month, criticised "clerical immobility which sometimes shows a fear to give room to women. . . ."

He said "some roles in the Church require the exercise of jurisdictional power attached to the ordained ministry".

But not all government or administrative roles in the Church "imply jurisdictional power".

Such roles could be entrusted to lay people and therefore to women as well, he said.

Women "can have roles of responsibility - high level roles as well- in bodies, that do not necessarily imply the exercise of the power of jurisdiction that comes with the ordained ministry: the pontifical councils for example".

He cited the councils for the family, laity, culture, social communication and the promotion of the new evangelisation as examples.

The fact that no women hold roles of "any importance" in these bodies is absurd, he said.

Women could also serve in some of the Vatican's congregations as under-secretaries, the cardinal said.

He questioned why there are no women theologians on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, when there are so many women scholars teaching in pontifical universities.

The work of Harvard professor Mary Ann Glendon for the Vatican at United Nations conferences was held up as a model of excellence.

"I believe that a certain number of women like this could help rid the Curia of clericalism and careerism which is a terrible vice," the cardinal said.

Former Irish president Mary McAleese made a similar call in a speech at Cambridge University on February 28.

Sources:

• La Stampa
• The Irish Times
• Image: Daily Telegraph

Pope Francis has said that the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics will be one of the key topics of discussion at the extraordinary synod he has scheduled for Oct. 5-19.

Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said Tuesday that the cardinals' meeting would not pre-empt the synod in any way. A consistory, he said, is a meeting "where every cardinal can freely express his thoughts," but it is not a decision-making body and will not feature a vote on propositions.

The cardinals' conversation "does not bind the synod in any way," he said, although synod members will be informed about what the cardinals said. Continue reading