The Vatican has released a summary of its two-year, unprecedented global canvassing of Catholics. Here's what they said.
VATICAN CITY — An unprecedented global canvassing of Catholics has called for the church to take concrete steps to promote women to decision-making roles, for a"radical inclusion" of the LGBTQ+ community and for new accountability measures to check how bishops exercise authority.
People are also reading… The document highlights key concerns that emerged during the consultation process, which began at the local parish level and concluded with seven continent-wide assemblies. It flagged in particular the devastating impact that clergy sexual abuse crisis has had on the faithful, costing the hierarchy its credibility and sparking calls for structural changes to remove their near-absolute power.
The document also asked what concrete steps the church can take to better welcome LGBTQ+ people and others who have felt marginalized and unrecognized by the church so that they don't feel judged: the poor, migrants, the elderly and disabled, as well as those who by tribal or caste feel excluded. Unlike past working documents, the synthesis doesn't stake out firm points, proposals or conclusions, but rather poses a series of questions for further discussion by the October assembly. The synod process continues in 2024 with the second phase, after which Francis is expected to issue a concluding document considering the proposals that have been put to him by the delegates.
It suggested that the church must reevaluate the way authority is exercised by the hierarchy, suggesting structural, canonical and institutional reforms to eradicate the"clericalism," or privilege that is afforded to clergy. Even before the synod began, the document and the consultative process that preceded it were already having an effect.
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