
After Drubbing in Rome, Catholic Left Still Claims Victory
The left-wing of Catholicism just concluded a two-year campaign to convince the universal Church to change its teachings on marriage, divorce, communion, and homosexuality.

The left-wing of Catholicism just concluded a two-year campaign to convince the universal Church to change its teachings on marriage, divorce, communion, and homosexuality.

As the Vatican synod on marriage and the family draws to a close with no significant change in Catholic doctrine or practice, liberals are left nursing their wounds over yet another revolution that didn’t happen.

In a word intended to reassure conservatives, Pope Francis told the bishops gathered in the Vatican Synod on the family Tuesday that Church teaching on marriage is “still valid,” while also urging them to broaden their horizons, instead of focusing on internal questions such as Communion for the divorced and remarried.

In the lead-up to October’s Vatican Synod on Marriage and the Family, the drafters express their deep concern over what they see as “widespread confusion” over the possibility of divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion as well as the acceptance of homosexual unions, which they describe as “contrary to Divine and natural law.” On Tuesday morning, the petition was delivered to the Vatican, requesting that Francis offer “a clarifying word” to dispel the confusion that reigns among many of the faithful around the globe.

In his weekly audience Wednesday, Pope Francis continued his series of reflections on the family, focusing on the situation of the divorced and remarried and their participation in the life of the Church.