Called "Living in Successful Relationships - Living Love in Sexuality and Partnership," Vatican News says the draft document clearly rejects "conversion therapies for homosexuals", pleads on behalf of "homosexual partnerships and remarried divorcees ‘to be able to see themselves under the blessing of God expressly granted by the church'".

It also says the document "moves away from a radical condemnation of masturbation".

The German Synodal Way conference approved the draft in a 168 to 28, vote with five abstentions. Sixty-nine Synodal Assembly members are German bishops, 37 are elected representatives of German priests and religious, while 69 are members of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

The preamble to the draft document asserts:

• "The Church's sexual ethics has also favored the crimes of sexual abuse in the Church. We sincerely ask for forgiveness of all people who have suffered from the effects of church teaching on sexuality".

The body of the document says:

• "Knowledge of the human sciences" should be the basis for ensuring "a change in the teaching and practice of the Church in dealing with human sexuality." The document suggests different forms of "accentuation" or emphasis, rather than a change in doctrinal content.

Concerning the Church's condemnation of contraception and insistence in affirming the procreative function of the sexual act:

• Most people see the Church's teaching on the immorality of contraception as "a misunderstanding of the human significance of human sexuality for every person and as an implausible imposition".
• Masturbation opens "the possibility of discovering and experiencing oneself physically" and experiencing "pleasure, identity and transcendence".
• Homosexual relationships "should always be recognized without reservation" if they are characterized by "love and compassion."
• Homosexual orientation should not be a "basis for exclusion" from ordination to the clergy; homosexuality "is not a risk factor for sexual abuse," nor an illness.
• Sacramental marriage is only between a man and a woman.

The document remains in draft form and must be approved a second time when the Synodal Way meets again in early 2022 before it is made official. It will then be presented to the Vatican for approval.

The draft's endorsement of blessing homosexual unions goes against warnings from Pope Francis and the Vatican against radical departures from Catholic doctrine.

It appears to directly contradict a recent declaration by the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith repudiating blessings of homosexual unions and other "partnerships" involving extra-marital sexual activity. Francis approved the declaration.

There seems little concern for potential conflict with the Vatican, with Bishop Georg Bätzing being quoted as saying: "There were texts debated that are not just texts, but dreams put into words about how we want to change the church in Germany: a church that is participatory, gender-equitable, and journeys with people."

He reportedly lashed out at the Vatican, decrying "warning words or clarifications from the Roman Curia on questions that have long been answered in our enlightened and freedom-loving society,".

Prohibiting blessing homosexual unions had provoked "indignation and head-shaking among many people," he said.

Source

• Catholic World Report
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The CDF Responsum said priests could not give blessings to same-sex unions because "God cannot bless sin".

The statement has caused an outcry from LGBT+ Catholics and their supporters.

The sources who spoke with America Magazine did not wish to be identified as they were not authorized to comment.

They noted that when commenting on the Gospel of the day, which recounts that some Greeks wanted "to see Jesus," Pope Francis said many people today also want to see, to meet and to know Jesus.

"We Christians and our communities" have "the great responsibility" to make this possible by "the witness of a life that is given in service, a life that takes upon itself the style of God: closeness, compassion and tenderness," Francis said.

He explained that this "means sowing seeds of love, not with fleeting words but through concrete, simple and courageous examples; not with theoretical condemnations but with gestures of love."

He added that "then the Lord, with his grace, makes us bear fruit, even when the soil is dry due to misunderstandings, difficulty or persecution or claims of legalism or clerical moralism.

"This is barren soil.

"Precisely then, in trials and in solitude, while the seed is dying, that is the moment in which life blossoms, to bear ripe fruit in due time."

He followed up the comments on Tuesday, calling on Catholic moral theologians, missionaries and confessors to follow the example of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the famous moral theologian and founder of the Redemptorists, who showed how "to keep together the demands of the Gospel and human fragility."

He invited them, following the example of the saint and bishop, "to enter into a living relationship with the members of God's people and to look at life from their perspective in order to understand the real difficulties they encounter and to help heal their wounds."

Moral theology, the pope said, cannot be only about principles and formulations, but must respond to the reality of the person in need, "because knowledge of theoretical principles alone, as St. Alphonsus himself reminds us, is not enough to accompany and sustain consciences in discerning the good to be done."

Earlier, on eve of the Feast of St Joseph, Francis urged student priests of Rome's Belgian Pontifical College to learn the art of fatherhood from St. Joseph.

"Saint Joseph is a welcoming father" who set aside his legitimate personal plans and loved and welcomed Mary and Jesus with faith, in a vision of a family life quite different from what he might have wished for.

In this regard, he is a master of spiritual life and discernment, who welcomes what happens in life.

As a shepherd, the Pope said, a priest always stays with his flock, sometimes in front to open the way, at times in the middle to encourage, or behind to gather the last ones.

Without being rigid, an attentive guardian, he said, is ready to change as situations require, always understanding the needs of his flock and avoiding the opposite temptations of domination and carelessness.

Sources

• America Magazine
• America Magazine
• Vatican News

McCarrick is a former cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington and was a powerful figure in ecclesiastical, diplomatic and political circles in the US and around the world.

The 88-year old was publicly accused last year of sexually abusing at least two adolescent boys and of engaging for decades in coercive sexual behaviour toward priests and seminarians.

He is the highest-ranking churchman to be laicised. It means he can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title.

His conviction and laicisation (defrocking) followed an administrative penal process conducted by the CDF. This process is a much-abbreviated penal mechanism used in cases in which the evidence is so clear that a full trial is unnecessary.

McCarrick was found guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

Because Pope Francis personally approved the guilty verdict and the penalty of laicisation, it is formally impossible for the decision to be appealed.

According to a statement from the Vatican on 16 February, the decree finding McCarrick guilty was issued on January 11 and followed by an appeal, which was rejected by the CDF on February 13.

McCarrick was notified of the decision on February 15 and Pope Francis "has recognised the definitive nature of this decision made in accord with law, rendering it a res iudicata (ie, admitting of no further recourse)".

His punishment was announced five days before the opening of Francis's extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-ups by church hierarchy.

The resultant scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis' papacy.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Time
• The Washington Post
• America
• independent.ie

A backlog of unresolved abuse cases has prompted the new appointments.

Attention has focused on the Vatican's response to the clerical sexual abuse crisis since the beginning of last month.

That was when abuse survivor Marie Collins resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (P.C.M.) citing Vatican resistance and lack of cooperation for her resignation.

Francis appointed Monsignor John Kennedy to head the discipline section of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

The other official is Rev. Hans Zollner, one of the Catholic Church's top experts on fighting abuse and protecting children.

Francis has also approved additional staff to the Congregation to handle abuse cases.

Some estimates suggest these cases take two to three years to process.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who heads Francis' abuse advisory commission, said in a recent interview the Congregation needs more resources to deal with the caseload and related issues.

Francis appointed O'Malley to the commission earlier this year.

The congregation assumed responsibility for processing abuse cases in 2001 after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) said dioceses weren't disciplining pedophiles as church law required.

The change required bishops and religious superiors to submit all credible accusations to the Congregation.

Source

• The Washington Post
• NZ Herald
• Image: WiseGEEK