Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/580873
MiriaM Dalli The Roman Catholic Church today enters a three-week synodal proc- ess, which will see some 270 bishops discussing some important ques- tions about marriage and the family. experts believe that the discussions could fundamentally alter the Cath- olic understanding of the indissolu- bility of marriage and teaching on same-sex marriages. The synod has already been marked by a bumpy opening: as it prepares to discuss Church outreach to gays, the Vatican yesterday dismissed a priest from his post in a holy See office af- ter he told a newspaper he was gay and urged the Catholic Church to change its stance on homosexuality. Monsignor Krzystof Charamsa, 43, was removed from his position at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal arm where he had worked since 2003. The Polish theologian said he wanted to challenge the Church's "backwards" attitude to homosexu- ality. The Vatican was not impressed and called his actions "very serious and irresponsible". Insisting that the dismissal had nothing to do with his comments on his personal situation, the Vatican said it was "grave and ir- responsible" given their timing on the eve of the synod. But what will the Synod be all about? "It will surely have to delve on the present ecclesial situ- ation: on one hand there is the need for renewal of the Church. On the other hand, it has to keep pace with changes in the modern world while avoiding any likely division or a schism in the church," Vati- canologist Frank Zammit told Mal- taToday. The Synod, he explained, must maintain "the traditional family" as the most important jewel in today's society but needs to help those fami- ly members that are calling for help. Some of the thinkers forming part of this debate would like to stick to the doctrine that states and consid- ers the Curia's liberal "project" as a dangerous initiative. "The Pope's intent is to instigate a very delicate and sensitive debate, so that afterwards, he will set the course and decide where to draw the Church's lines," Zammit said. For this reason, the Pope urged the faithful on various occasions to pray for the Synod Fathers as he did throughout his Apostolic Voyage to ecuador. "The Pope seems to be very doubt- ful about the outcome of this great venue. he knows that he is treading on very dangerous ground. Francis knows that he risks a schism if he ac- cepts to follow the line of the liberal prelates and allows the Church to distribute holy Communion to the divorced," Zammit said. he went on to add that the Pope was already hearing the distant drums beating the word 'heresy'. At all costs, the Pope will not allow his pontificate to be synonymous with another great schism. On these issues, the level of com- plete resistance has surpassed the 30% and in the case of access of the sacraments for people in an irregu- lar marriage states, it has reached the 40%. Today's journey starts with a Mass presided by the holy Father, who will then signal the opening of the Ordinary General Assembly on 'The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world', allowing the faithful of the World to join the common path of the pastors cum Petro et sub Petro. The assembly is the culmination of the synodal journey undertaken two years ago, Zammit added. maltatoday, Sunday, 4 OctOber 2015 News RIGHT OF REPLY WITh reference to the article titled 'Shuttered Marsa bar is residence address for 26 foreign nationals' published by Malta- Today on Sunday 27 September 2015, Identity Malta would like to make a number of clarifica- tions. The 24 applications for resi- dence mentioned in the article were submitted before Janu- ary 2013 and the screenshot published in the article shows a record of all the individuals who made use of the said address at different times. These applica- tions were registered in the old electronic system and since the introduction of the National Identity Management System in 2013, no applications were reg- istered under the mentioned ad- dress. It is also worth mentioning that there are no valid residence permits showing the address re- ferred to in the article. The other two entries quoted by MaltaToday refer to a deceased Maltese citizen who made use of the same address and another Canadian citizen who used to re- side in the same road in Marsa. ever since Identity Malta as- sumed responsibility of the Citizenship and expatriates de- partment, the Agency has taken various measures to strengthen any weaknesses which were ex- istent in the past. The Depart- ment of Citizenship and expatri- ates is also aiming to put in place automatic checks which would enable the department to detect abuse at the very beginning of the application process; crucial checks which were not in place under previous administration. Identity Malta is in full collabo- ration with the authorities during the ongoing investigations which were initiated after information was passed on to the Police by the agency itself. Joe Vella Bonnici Executive Chairman Identity Malta Agency Divided bishops in rome for synod on the family "The Pope's intent is to instigate a very delicate and sensitive debate" Vaticanologist Frank Zammit