ROME
Crux
By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent October 16, 2014
ROME — In yet another unexpected turn in the Synod of Bishops, the bishops decided today to make all the discussions of the past week public, and those internal reports offer an x-ray of a divided summit on the family.
In a Vatican briefing today, Italian layman Francesco Miano, one of the synod participants, described the main fault line as running between truth and mercy — with one camp insisting on clarity about Church teaching, and another outreach to constituencies that don’t fully live it, including gays, the divorced, and people living together outside of marriage.
The reports have no official standing, and were described today by a Vatican spokesman as one step in a long and yet unresolved process. It marks the first time a synod has released these reports from its 10 small working groups, which are organized by language.
The documents suggest general agreement on the importance of restating that there’s only one role model of family promoted by official Church doctrine, which is that marriage is between a man and a woman and open to new life.
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