Instrumentum laboris for the XIV Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops

A "new step", for a "differentiated accompaniment" of families, particularly those who are wounded and fragile, through "prudent and merciful discernment" and "the ability to concretely grasp the diversity of individual situations". It is the Instrumentum laboris for the XIV Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, recently made public. The text is the result of the "Relatio Synodi" - of which large parts are confirmed - integrated by the 99 responses to the "Lineamenta", in addition to the 359 observations "freely sent by dioceses and parishes, ecclesial associations and spontaneous groups of the faithful, movements and civil organizations , numerous families and individual believers", as explained by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, presenting the document to journalists. “For the Church it is a question of starting from the concrete situations of today's families, all in need of mercy, starting with those who suffer the most”, we read in the text, which is divided into three parts: listening to the challenges facing the family, discernment of his vocation, reflection on his mission.

Among the challenges to be met - listed in the first part, which contains 18 new paragraphs - also that of "integral ecology", just proposed in the Pope's new encyclical, to overcome "inequality and social exclusion". We need a "morality of grace" to help "the beauty of the virtues of married life be discovered and flourish" and to help young people overcome the fear of getting married for fear of failure. Another truth to propose again, that of the "difference" between man and woman; on contraception, the essential reference remains "Humanae vitae". The icon is that of Jesus accompanying the disciples of Emmaus: “Sometimes we need to stay close and listen in silence; others, stand in front to indicate the way to proceed; others still, stay behind to support and encourage." The role of women in the training of priests. “A greater appreciation of their responsibility in the Church can contribute to the recognition of the decisive role of women: their intervention in decision-making processes; their participation, not only formally, in the governance of some institutions; their involvement in the training of ordained ministers". It is one of the novelties of the Instrumentum laboris, which includes a specific paragraph on the "role of women".

"Broad consensus" on nullity and "free services" in dioceses for couples in crisis. “Broad consensus”, among the synod fathers, “on the opportunity to make the procedures for the recognition of cases of marital nullity more accessible and agile, possibly free of charge”: an innovative proposal, in this sense, is to “institute in diocese a stable consultancy service", in which information, consultancy and mediation services linked to family pastoral care must be "guaranteed free of charge, especially available to separated people or couples in crisis". Regarding the "double compliant sentence" to obtain the nullity of the bond, there is "convergence" on its "overcoming": vice versa, "the possibility of an administrative procedure under the responsibility of the diocesan bishop does not receive unanimous consensus". Reception and integration for divorced and remarried people. No "exclusion" of divorced and remarried people: indeed, "ever greater integration into the Christian community", through "paths" preceded "by an appropriate discernment on the part of the pastors regarding the irreversibility of the situation and the life of faith of the couple in the new union" . “Welcome” and “integration” are the two key words, with a view to “a law of gradualness respectful of the maturation of consciences”. “There is common agreement on the hypothesis of an itinerary of reconciliation or penitential path, under the authority of the bishop, for the divorced and civilly remarried faithful who find themselves in a situation of irreversible cohabitation”, we learn from the Instrumentum laboris, in to which some fathers suggest "a path of awareness of the failure and the wounds it produces, with repentance, verification of the possible nullity of the marriage, commitment to spiritual communion and the decision to live in continence". Other fathers, however, "by penitential means a process of clarification and new orientation, after the failure experienced, accompanied by a presbyter appointed for this purpose". This process, according to this proposal, "should lead the interested party to an honest judgment on his own condition, in which even the priest himself can develop his own evaluation in order to be able to use the power to bind and loose in a manner appropriate to the situation" .

As for the Orthodox Churches' matrimonial practice of blessing second unions, it is in itself "a penitential celebration", and must be understood "as pastoral condescension towards failed marriages, without calling into question the ideal of absolute monogamy, or unity of marriage." “There is no basis for assimilating or establishing analogies, even remote, between homosexual unions and God's plan for marriage and the family”. It is the Church's position on gay unions, taken up by the letter on the matter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cited both in the "Relatio Synodi" and in today's Instrumentum laboris. “Every person - the in-depth analysis of today's document - regardless of their sexual orientation, must be respected in their dignity and welcomed with sensitivity and delicacy, both in the Church and in society”. “It would be desirable - the proposal - for diocesan pastoral projects to pay specific attention to the accompaniment of families in which people with homosexual tendencies live and of these same people”.

by M. Michela Nicolais (Sir)