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VATICAN CITY - Divided into three parts, the Vatican’s newly released outline that will drive discussion during the upcoming synod touches on the nature of families and current challenges they face.
Present at the June 26 press conference announcing the instrumentum laboris was Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary, and relator general of the third extraordinary synod.
In his address, Cardinal Baldisseri revealed that the outline for the bishops’ October discussion is divided into three parts, the first focusing on the communication of the Gospel in today’s world, while the second part addresses the pastoral program for the family in light of new challenges.
The instrumentum concludes with the third part, which centers on an openness to life and parental responsibility in the upbringing of children.
“Dedicated to the Gospel of the family,” the first part of the outline “relates to God’s plan, biblical and magisterial knowledge and their reception, natural law and the vocation of the person in Christ,” the cardinal explained.
“The difficulties that arise in relation to natural law can be overcome through more attentive reference to the biblical world, to its language and narrative forms and to the proposal to thematize and deepen the biblically inspired concept of the ‘order of creation,’” he explained.
Moving on to the second part, the cardinal stated that it “relates to the pastoral challenges inherent in the family, such as the crisis of faith, critical internal situations, external pressures and other problems.”
He also took special note that the instrumentum “offers real knowledge” of the situation of remarried divorcees, stating that, from this knowledge, “the Church is required to find solutions compatible with her teaching and which lead to a serene and reconciled life. In this respect, the need to simplify the judicial procedures for the annulment of marriage would appear relevant.” Also drawing attention to the topic of same-sex unions, the cardinal explained that within the outline “a distinction is made between the contexts in which civil legislation is more or less in favor.”
Following his explanation of the outline’s contents, Cardinal Baldisseri revealed that the concluding documents of the extraordinary synod this fall will be used to form the instrumentum laboris for the ordinary synod in 2015.
After the closing of the ordinary synod, which he announced will reflect on the theme “Jesus Christ Reveals the Mystery and Vocation of the Family,” Pope Francis will use the conclusions to draft his first post-synodal exhortation, which can be expected in 2016.
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