Conservative Catholics say sin takes a backseat in new Church recommendations

The Vatican’s Synod on the Family concluded last weekend amid controversy and doubt. Pope Francis called the three-week gathering, attended by 270 bishops from around the world, to discuss how to best minister to today’s Catholic families. The bishops presented a final document with recommendations to the pope on Saturday.

The document includes statements on a number of contentious issues, including communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, homosexuality, and cohabitation. Although the final report does not explicitly endorse any doctrinal changes on these issues, some conservative critics argue its ambiguity on both remarriage and homosexual behavior nudges the Church down a slippery slope.

The issue of remarriage and communion was a key point of debate. Earlier this year, Pope Francis announced reforms to make it easier for Catholics to receive annulments, and thus remarry in the Church. Catholic doctrine holds that marriage is permanent, and therefore, divorce is not recognized. In order for a couple to split, they must receive an annulment from the Church declaring the marriage was flawed from the beginning. Without an annulment, the Church considers those who divorce and remarry to be adulterers and barred from receiving communion.

Progressive bishops pushed for language in the final report giving a clear path to communion for those who are divorced and civilly remarried. Though they did not achieve that goal, the approved paragraph, passed by just one vote over the necessary two-thirds majority, does not reference adultery and opens a door for pastors to handle divorced and remarried couples on a case-by-case basis.

Progressives argue this step creates a more welcoming and pastoral church. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a synod father who spearheaded the progressive push on this issue, called the document a “historic step.”

On the issue of homosexual behavior, the document shies away from traditional Catholic doctrine calling homosexual behavior “intrinsically disordered,” and instead emphasizes teaching that calls the Church to respect all persons.

Conservatives argue the ambiguous language on both issues is a danger to the Church. Voice of the Family, a pro-family and pro-life coalition of 26 global Catholic organizations, declared a “crisis of trust” in a statement released over the weekend.

“In the name of conscience, the Synod organizers and leading Synod Fathers appeared to be seeking to abolish the notion of intrinsic evil, that is sin—on contraception, on cohabitation, on homosexuality, and on other fundamental matters,” said John Smeaton, Voice of the Family co-founder. “Confusion on fundamental doctrinal matters, which has reigned at the Family Synod, is only serving to assist powerful international bodies opposed to the family and to the sanctity of human life. Holy Father, enough is enough.”

John-Henry Westen, also a Voice of the Family co-founder, said Catholic leaders must look to Christ’s example of love and truth.

“Christ gave us these so-called hard rules,” Westen noted, adding Christ also scandalized people of his day by loving and reaching out to sinners. “But he always said to them, go and sin no more.”

Westen argues traditional family advocates achieved some victories in the document, especially regarding abortion. The synod report condemns abortion and vehemently condemns the West forcing abortion and contraception on developing countries by tying aid grants to pro-abortion reforms.

But Westen fears the document’s ambiguity on the question of remarriage has opened a door for certain regional churches, especially in Germany, to be what he calls “uncatholic” by publicly allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to take communion. The language on homosexuality moves the Church along the same trajectory, Westen warned.