Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/404410
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2014 14 News TEODOR RELJIC NEWSPAPER headlines and social media came out in full force in the wake of the Catholic synod earlier this month – officially titled 'Pasto- ral Challenges for the Family in the Context of Evangelization' – laying particular focus on Pope Francis' ap- peals towards a more compassionate stance towards alternative family models as well as homosexuals. In what was perceived to be a con- flict between Pope Francis and ele- ments within the Roman Catholic clergy, bishops had reversed a his- toric acceptance of gays after they dropped parts of a controversial document that had been hailed as a breakthrough in how the Catholic hierarchy talked about gay people. The call "to accept and value" homosexuals in a draft report was backed by Pope Francis but it failed to win the backing of two-thirds of the bishops at the synod in Rome. Two other paragraphs suggesting divorced and remarried Catholics could receive communion also failed to pass. The report was issued at the end of a two-week extraordinary synod of some 200 Roman Catholic bishops from around the world. Notwithstanding that the original report was changed to what many perceived to be a more cautious ver- sion, and the arguably misguided combative terms in which sections of the media perceived the unfolding synod (with 'Progressive Pope Fran- cis' one corner, 'Conservative Bish- ops' in another), the fact remains that this year's synod has led to some discussion on the role of the Church in the world – and, of course, in pre- dominantly Catholic Malta where the recent passing of the Civil Un- ions Bill has put the situation of LG- BTI Catholics into further relief. The founding member of LGBTI Catholic group Drachma Malta, Mario Gerada, is certainly apprecia- tive of Pope Francis' overall message, pointing out however that we should refrain from seeing his plea to "ac- cept and value" homosexuals as some kind of intrinsically radical move. "Elements within the Catholic Church have been debating this issue for quite a while, but I think it's cru- cial that the higher echelons of the Church hierarchy are finally putting this issue at the forefront of their The synod is just the beginning Much to the chagrin of us journalistic types, the much-publicised Catholic synod should not be seen as a black- and-white affair