Former Catonsville priest William ‘Father Bill’ Mannion found guilty in sex abuse case

A Baltimore County jury Thursday found a former Catonsville priest guilty of one count of child abuse and four counts of second-degree sex offenses in the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old St. Agnes Catholic School student more than three decades ago.

William “Father Bill” Mannion Jr., 64, was accused of grooming the boy in 1994 and using religious teachings and the threat of eternal damnation to manipulate him into performing sexual acts in the church rectory after religious education classes.

The jury reached its verdict Thursday after a four-day trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court. The state dropped the remaining charges against Mannion.

Dates were central to the defense throughout the trial. Defense attorney Chris Luber argued that the former student’s accounts placed the alleged abuse before Mannion arrived at St. Agnes in July 1994.

Prosecutors, however, argued that the six-month period when Mannion and the boy overlapped at the school and parish provided the opportunity for the abuse to occur.

“The opportunity was there for this abuse to happen,” Assistant State’s Attorney Stacy Amparo told jurors during closing arguments.

Luber urged jurors to construct their own timeline of the allegations and said the discrepancies amounted to reasonable doubt.

“It adds up to one thing,” Luber said, “and that’s reasonable doubt.”

Around the same time he is accused of abusing the 10-year-old, Mannion reported allegations of sexual abuse against John Joseph Merzbacher to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Merzbacher, who was convicted of rape and ordered to serve four life sentences, died while incarcerated in 2023.

Mannion left the priesthood in the 1990s and formally removed himself from the clerical state in 2004 “for reasons unrelated to abuse,” according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Closing arguments

Before the jury left the courtroom to deliberate Thursday, Amparo talked about the alleged victim’s credibility. She said that the central details of the man’s allegations remained “strong and consistent.” He could even remember the musty smell of the towel that Mannion handed him after the first incident of abuse, Amparo said.

Amparo also spoke about testimony given Wednesday by clinical social worker Crimson Barocca. Amparo said Barocca testified that typically, the central details of abuse, rather than timelines, remain strong for survivors of abuse.

“At the end of the day, how many of us remember exactly what happened in third grade?” Amparo asked.

Decades after the abuse, Amparo said, the former student had to put together all the pieces like a puzzle. “[He] is telling you the truth,” she said.

Amparo also spoke about the power dynamics between Mannion and the boy. She said that the boy grew up in a religious family and that people depend on religious leaders for guidance. “This defendant was God on earth to him,” she said.

This, along with Mannion being fun and young, made it “all the more confusing” for the boy during the abuse, Amparo said.

Luber spent much of his closing arguments speaking about timelines. He brought up the differences in the former student’s reports to investigators and his therapist.

Luber said the man told his therapist and alleged in a pending lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Baltimore that the abuse occurred between first and third grade.

He said that the man told an investigator with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office that the abuse occurred between second and third grade. He told a Baltimore County detective that the abuse occurred between second and fourth grade, Luber said.

All these timelines take place before July 1994, when Mannion arrived at St. Agnes, Luber said.

“I encourage you to construct your own timeline,” he said to the jury, later adding that there is clear reasonable doubt in the state’s case.

Luber also spoke about a letter that Mannion wrote to the pope and archdiocese, asking to be removed from the clerical state. The letter included information about struggling with celibacy and wanting to be a “hero” as a young priest, according to prosecutors.

While prosecutors said the letter gave insight into Mannion’s heightened sexual desires during his time at St. Agnes, Luber said the letter is not evidence of child sexual abuse.

Part of the letter, Luber said, is about Mannion finding his soulmate, wanting to get married and wanting to be able to continue attending church.

“He bore his soul,” Luber said, “And this is evidence of child sex abuse?”

Catholic priest turned Celtic monk: 'Manchán found a sense of the divine out in nature'

What makes a former Catholic priest want to leave the Church, move to the Aran Islands, and become a Celtic monk?

Dara Molloy is the former priest in question. Speaking over Zoom from his family’s summer house in Rush, the conversation opens in that typical Irish way of finding a mutual connection.

In this case, Molloy was my father’s teacher in Dundalk in the 1980s. At the time, the then priest felt like a square peg in a round hole.

“I wasn’t happy living in a community of priests in a very institutional way with people cooking my meals and washing my clothes and cleaning my room,” he says. “I was very unhappy as a teacher. Even though I loved working with young people, I liked working outside the system.”

After a summer visit to the Aran Islands in 1982, Molloy felt a calling much stronger than that of the priesthood. “When I got there, I discovered an island that had been used for monks over centuries,” he says. “It was a monastic island, and interestingly, the first monk to come there was from Dundalk.” Yet another connection.

Far and away from the notion of religion that Irish people grew up around — guilt, sin, and wrongdoing imparted by the Church that has caused lasting trauma to the women and men of Ireland — Molloy paints a very different picture of what spirituality can be.

His new book, The Celtic Way, is a deep dive into the traditions that have sustained and how we can implement them into modern life. It also examines the Catholic Church in an unredemptive manner.

“Ireland absorbed Christianity through the oral transmission of stories, and with it created something completely unique which today we call Celtic Christianity,” he says.

Through his writing, he gives context to how Christianity took a hold of Ireland, but it raises a certain degree of anger at the forces that held power over Irish society for centuries. One such consequence – the mass burying of babies in unmarked graves.

Irish monks continued to rebel in the spirit of their humanistic beliefs for hundreds of years after Christian teachings made their way to Ireland, even travelling to Rome to dispute the newly introduced idea that all humans inherited “original sin” in the late 4th Century.

“Celtic Christians believed in ‘original goodness’,” Molloy writes — a belief from which we could probably all benefit. Irish people have a sense of their own heritage that has dug its way into our psyche. In large part, it is due to written works, like the Book of Kells, that still live and are appreciated as records of our past. Of the way that we used to live.

“I grew up in a religious bubble. In childhood and early adulthood, my Christian faith defined my world,” Molloy writes.

“Living within such a world meant that I did not distinguish between tangible reality — the things that science can study — and spiritual reality.”

Through suppression, outright bans, and a practice that has on occasion had to survive out of the public eye and hidden from oppressive forces — these ways of thinking, of connecting with the earth and with each other — have lived on.

They are more prevalent and celebrated than perhaps they have been in the last 1,000 years. We return because we have something to return to. Something that transcends capitalism and the digital age.

As a Celtic officiant, he performs, among others; weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals, and the Celtic festival celebrations of Imboc, Bealtaine, Lughnasa, and Samhain.

Oftentimes, Molloy notices, connections come about in mysterious ways.

“Three or four of the weddings I’ve done were in a grove of trees,” he says. “That brings you right back to the druids.”

With no churches as places of worship, “they had groves of trees where they did a lot of their rituals,” Molloy explains.

And now, “we’re doing it intuitively,” he says, telling the story of a recent wedding that he conducted in Rathvilly, County Carlow.

“I noticed the Irish version of the name, Ráth Bhile. So rock is a fort. Villa is the sacred oak tree, usually, or an ash tree, that represents the tribe in the area. And that oak tree would have been used for people to have a ceremony under, including a wedding,” he marvels. Molloy says that the couple went up to him afterwards, in awe that they were unknowingly connected to an ancient Irish tradition.

“Those people who chose to have their wedding in the grove of trees, didn’t know that the druids did it,” he says.

“They’re doing it intuitively, and I have every trust that it will continue to move in this direction,” he concludes.

Connecting to our Celtic past comes in many forms, with Molloy boiling his experience down to a very simple outlook.

He tells a story of the late Manchán Magan, in which he gave up the offer of a hotel to stay with a local family.

“He was invited to speak somewhere down the country. I think it was in Cork. And they were going to put him up in a hotel, and he said, no, no, I don’t want to go to a hotel. Find somebody who’ll give me a bed for the night.”

He continues: “And this family gave him a bed for the night, and on the Sunday morning, the family said, we’re off to mass. Now do you want to come? He said, well, no, that’s not really where I get my spiritual nourishment. I’ll go off for a swim and I’ll get my nourishment there.”

Molloy notes that this difference is the pinnacle of where devotion through organised religion and connection in a spiritual sense splits.

“He found a sense of the divine out in nature,” he says of Manchán. “In swimming, or walking the beach, or in among our forest trees. That would be where I’m coming from, too. It’s something we’ve been missing,” he says.

Because of the way that we were raised, and the lasting imposition from childhood, this strict way of thinking has stuck with us culturally.

The notion of Catholic guilt remains embedded in us, whether we consider ourselves devoted or lapsed Catholics. Understanding the ways of Celtic Christianity, and how it varies so much from what we have been raised to know of religion has the potential to open life up to be lived a little differently.

Molloy leaves the conversation with something worth thinking about. “Where do you feel nourished at a really deep, wholesome level?” he asks. “Is God found in somebody else’s writing? Maybe sometimes, maybe in John O’Donohue’s writing.

“But the Celtic monks always said that there were two ways to find God. One was in the scriptures, and one was out in nature.”

To embrace the divine on a morning walk, or a conversation with a friend, or in the food we eat, which has been grown from a seed into nourishment. To leave behind guilt, shame and sin and to instead try to live good lives for ourselves and others.

Catholic Church to halve number of Glasgow parishes as priest numbers fall

The Catholic Church is to halve the number of parishes it has in Glasgow and Dunbartonshire as part of a major restructuring that will see 24 churches close.

Archbishop William Nolan said the move was forced by "too many parishes but too few people" in a letter to congregations, but admitted the amount of closures would be a "painful experience" for many.

He added that the number of active priests in the the archdiocese had fallen by a third within the last five years.

A church spokesperson told BBC Scotland's Drivetime programme that the number of active priests in Glasgow could fall to as few as eight within the next 20 years.

Ronnie Convery, director of communications at the Archdiocese of Glasgow, warned that as the majority of priests are currently over the age of 60, this will lead to a lack of priests in the coming years.

Convery told Drivetime: "This has been an ongoing issue for 10 or 20 years. There are two problems - the churches are in the wrong places, having been built in areas that have since been depopulated, and fewer people are going to church now.

"But the real killer blow is the vocations crisis - we simply do not have enough priests anymore to service all these parishes.

"At the moment Glasgow has around 80 parishes - in 20 years' time we reckon there will only be eight priests left working. Something has to be done to make things workable."

The news comes as Scotland's major religious faiths grapple with a steady decline in numbers.

The 2022 census revealed that, for the first time, a majority of people in Scotland said they were not religious.

According to data at the census, 20.74% of Glaswegians are Catholic, while 13.3% of the overall population in Scotland said they were Catholic.

However, those numbers showed people saying they were Catholic had dropped by more than 117,000 in the past decade.

The merger proposals, covering churches in Dunbartonshire East, Dunbartonshire West, Glasgow South, Glasgow West and Glasgow East & North, have been approved in principle by the archbishop and the Council of Priests.

The official journal of the archdiocese, Flourish, stated the moves will now be discussed locally across parish and deanery pastoral councils, ahead of the changes taking place.

Convery said many of the moves will see two parishes start sharing one building.

The mergers and closures will not take place on a single future date but at separate times, with each case going through due process in canon law.

The plan suggests many of the closures will be "within five years", although some are listed as being "within five to 10 years".

It will result in about 40 parishes in total.

'Significantly fewer people coming to Mass'

The archbishop's statement said: "There are too many parishes but too few people, too many churches but too few priests.

"Compared to when these parishes were formed and our churches built, there are significantly fewer people coming to Mass. Some of our largest churches are in places where there are the fewest people...

"Our parishes and our churches hold great memories for us and are dear to our hearts, so any reduction in parishes and any closure of churches will be a painful experience. We cannot avoid that pain, though, by not facing up to reality.

"Just as the vinedresser cuts back the vine so that it may grow, so we too must trim and prune in order to stay healthy, in order to grow."

Heritage experts told BBC Scotland News that the news was expected, but would be a blow to many local communities with buildings falling into disuse.

In recent years the Church of Scotland has sold off numerous buildings across the country.

Dr DJ Johnston-Smith, the director of Scotland's Churches Trust, told Drivetime: "There was an inevitability to this. It will be very hard to hear for many people.

"Since 2020, 456 church buildings have closed across Scotland, so more than one a week, and we predict another 400 to 500 closures before the end of the decade.

"The country is undoubtedly secularising, but that's not just the sole purpose of these buildings - they have been places of community, places of sanctuary and can sit as an anchor in any community, even for people who do not cross the threshold."

Alleged victims of paedophile priest may seek winding up of school if damages not paid

Five men who claim a paedophile priest groomed and abused them may seek the winding up of a Co Down school if agreed damages of £1.2 million (€1.4 million) are not paid out.

Lawyers for the group have threatened to lodge a high court petition against St Colman’s College in Newry unless their demand over the settlements is met.

The development came amid continuing uncertainty over the Catholic Diocese of Dromore’s financial capability to fund historical clerical abuse compensation cases.

A number of actions have already been temporarily suspended under a moratorium on outstanding lawsuits. The diocese is seeking legal clarification on whether parish property can be sold to help meet any liabilities to victims.

It has been sued in a series of cases, many of them centred on the activities of paedophile priest Malachy Finegan.

Finegan, who died in 2002, allegedly groomed and sexually abused boys while he taught and worked at St Colman’s College in Newry, Co Down.

Millions of pounds in damages have already been paid out in lawsuits mounted over failures to prevent him from targeting pupils.

Church authorities set up a redress scheme in 2021 for survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy within the diocese, with payments capped at £80,000.

Other steps have been taken to liquidate or realise assets to help compensate claimants. Last year the sale of the bishop’s house in Newry was completed, while the sale of associated land remains pending.

Proceedings before the chancery division of the high court in Belfast are examining what other assets are available to trustees for any settlements in compensation claims.

In October 2025, however, five former pupils at St Colman’s agreed combined total settlements of £1.2 million.

The group sued the diocese and the school’s board of governors over alleged failures to protect them from Finegan.

Their actions, based on claims of historical sexual and physical assaults, were settled without any admission of liability.

But, according to the men’s legal team, legal counsel William Gowdy and solicitor Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law, the settlements remain outstanding.

McKeegan said that a statutory demand for payment has now been lodged as a potential first step towards seeking a winding up petition against St Colman’s.

“The victims and survivors are now more than a year on and despite agreeing settlements ... not one penny has been paid to them,” she said.

“They are further traumatised by the delay and uncertainty which unfortunately has characterised the approach of the diocese and the college to this series of serious and grave cases.”

Further information during a review hearing about the school’s insurance has provided no comfort, the solicitor claimed.

“Our clients have served statutory demands, and if they are not satisfied they are left with no option than to [seek to] wind up the college,” McKeegan said.

“This is not a mess of their making.”

Re withdraws and Tagle will preside over the Sacred College

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, has stepped down as Dean of the College of Cardinals. 

Leo XIV has accepted his resignation and, on 8 October, approved the election of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as his successor. 

This was announced today, Friday, by the Holy See Press Office. 

Re becomes Dean Emeritus and retains the suburbicarian see of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto; Tagle, 69, receives the title of Ostia, reserved for the Dean, without relinquishing that of Albano, which Leo XIV himself assigned him in May 2025—the same title Prevost held before being elected Pope.

The appointment appears to be a routine handover, yet it carries far-reaching consequences. For the first time since 2007, when Angelo Sodano turned 80, the Dean of the Sacred College is an elector. 

Should the Holy See fall vacant before Tagle turns 80 in June 2037, he would enter the Sistine Chapel to preside over the conclave.

What the Dean is

Canon 352 of the Code of Canon Law defines the Dean as the one who presides over the College of Cardinals without any governing authority over them, as primus inter pares. He is elected by the cardinals of the Order of Bishops, and the Roman Pontiff approves the election. 

Until 2019 the office was for life; Francis, in accepting Angelo Sodano’s resignation, limited it by motu proprio to a renewable five-year term.

In ordinary times the role is largely ceremonial. Everything changes when the Pope dies or resigns. 

According to the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, the Dean must inform the diplomatic corps and heads of state of the Pontiff’s death, convoke the cardinals, preside over the general congregations preceding the conclave, and, by custom, celebrate the funeral of the late Pope. 

Inside the Sistine Chapel, if he is an elector, he directs the ballots, asks the elected candidate whether he accepts and what name he wishes to take, and, should the new Pope not be a bishop, ordains him.

The general congregations are, in practice, the real conclave before the conclave. There the order of interventions is set, the timetable is fixed, and the atmosphere in which the cardinals approach the vote is shaped. The one who presides does not choose the Pope, but wields considerable influence over the climate in which the choice is made.

The end of the Re era

Re, former Substitute of the Secretariat of State and Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, was elected Dean in January 2020. 

His mandate expired in January 2025, and Francis, against all expectations, extended it without a set term. 

A few weeks later, the Brescian cardinal, aged 91, presided over Bergoglio’s funeral and led the congregations that culminated in the election of Leo XIV. 

In the Sistine Chapel, because both he and Vice-Dean Leonardo Sandri were barred by age, the duties fell to Pietro Parolin.

That anomaly—a Dean and Vice-Dean without a vote—is now being corrected. The communiqué makes no mention of changes in the vice-deanship, which remains in the hands of Sandri, 82.

Who Tagle is

Born in Manila in 1957, Tagle served as Bishop of Imus, Archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2019, and has been a cardinal since 2012, appointed by Benedict XVI. Francis brought him to Rome as Prefect of the then Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, elevated him in 2020 to the Order of Bishops, and, after the Curia reform, kept him as Pro-Prefect of the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, whose Prefect is the Pope himself. 

This dicastery oversees the mission territories of Asia and Africa and has handled the implementation of the provisional agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops.

His record includes well-known shadows. In November 2022 Francis removed the leadership of Caritas Internationalis, which Tagle chaired, following an internal audit on workplace climate. 

Theologically, he was formed in the orbit of the so-called Bologna school, collaborated on the history of Vatican II directed by Giuseppe Alberigo, and has been one of the most affable faces of the pastoral line opened by Amoris laetitia. 

His emotional style, his public tears, and the celebrated video in which he sang John Lennon’s Imagine have made him a figure deeply loved by some and viewed with suspicion by others.

He arrived at 2025 as the great Asian papabile and left the conclave still in red, yet with the new Pope’s confidence: it was he who presented Leo XIV with the Fisherman’s Ring at the inaugural Mass. Today he receives something less conspicuous yet perhaps more decisive—the presidency of the college that will elect the next Pope.

Full communiqué of the Holy See Press Office

Resignation of the Dean and approval of the election of the new Dean of the College of Cardinals

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the office of Dean of the College of Cardinals presented by His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who assumes the title of Dean Emeritus of the same College and retains the Title of the Suburbicarian Church of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto.

Furthermore, on 8 October 2026, the Roman Pontiff approved the election, made by Their Eminences the Cardinals of the Order of Bishops, of the Dean of the College of Cardinals in the person of His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, who will assume the Title of the Suburbicarian Church of Ostia, retaining the Title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.

Cardinal Eijk warns against a society that seeks to define human dignity apart from God

Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, has warned of the consequences of building a society that dispenses with God as the foundation of human dignity. 

The Dutch prelate maintains that when the Creator and natural law are rejected, the State ends up arrogating to itself the power to determine the protection each person deserves, subjecting fundamental questions to the decisions of political power or parliamentary majorities.

In an interview granted to La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, published this Thursday, October 8, Eijk has claimed the need to recover the foundations of the Church’s social doctrine and has insisted that human dignity is not a concession of the State, but a reality inherent to man because he was created in the image and likeness of God.

“Christians must continually present the truth to everyone, without fear and with clarity, so that members of society come to understand that the Creator is the source of human dignity and not the State,” the cardinal stated.

A dignity that does not depend on political majorities

For Eijk, the underlying problem arises when the organization of society ceases to recognize an objective moral order and turns human will into the ultimate criterion for determining what should be considered just.

The archbishop recalled that the natural moral law has its origin in creation and that the dignity of the person precedes any legislation. It is not, therefore, for the State to arbitrarily establish the value of the human being, but to recognize and protect a dignity that exists independently of its decisions.

“It is God who created man in his image and likeness and who, therefore, conferred on him an inviolable dignity that constitutes the source of his rights and duties,” he explained.

The prelate warned that when this foundation is denied, the protection of the person is left at the mercy of those who exercise power, whether through an authoritarian system or through decisions adopted democratically.

Eijk cited as an example legislation on abortion, where the State may come to establish circumstances in which legal protection is denied to children who have not yet been born.

The issue, according to his approach, is not limited to a discussion about certain laws. It affects the very concept of human dignity: if it depends on a political decision, it ceases to be recognized as an inviolable reality prior to power.

This is a warning that has also been present in the magisterium of recent pontiffs. 

Saint John Paul II recalled in Evangelium vitae that no human law can legitimize the deliberate elimination of an innocent life, while Benedict XVI insisted on the need for politics to recognize criteria of justice that do not depend exclusively on the will of majorities.

Social order does not consist solely in avoiding conflicts

The cardinal also questioned a conception of social order limited to institutional stability, public tranquility, or the absence of confrontations.

A society may function apparently normally and yet be profoundly disordered if its principles depart from the truth about man and from the demands of natural law.

“A society in which order prevails is one whose organization and structure are based, ultimately, on the order of creation, that is, on the intentions God had when he created the world,” Eijk explained.

By contrast, a disordered society is one that ceases to respect that order and acts against the ends inscribed by God in his creation.

The Archbishop of Utrecht recalled that the dignity of the person constitutes the foundation of the other principles of the Church’s social doctrine, among them the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the preferential option for the poor.

From this perspective, political and social organization cannot be detached from a true conception of the human person. 

The stability of institutions, the functioning of the economy, or the effectiveness of laws are not enough to guarantee a just society if the dignity of those they are meant to serve is lost sight of.

“Christians must present the truth without fear”

In the face of the advance of a secularized conception of social order, Eijk considers it essential that Catholics recover clarity in the proclamation of the faith and in the defense of its moral consequences.

The cardinal does not present this responsibility as a matter reserved for rulers or specialists in social doctrine, but as a task that belongs to all Christians.

His call aims to overcome the fear of publicly defending principles that, although part of the Church’s constant teaching, encounter growing resistance in certain cultural and political currents.

This is not the first time Eijk has warned about the consequences of abandoning an anthropology founded on human nature. 

In December 2022, the prelate called for an encyclical condemning gender ideology and defended the unity of body and soul against conceptions that seek to separate personal identity from biological reality.

The prelate also finds reasons for hope in the interest in Catholicism he observes among young people in several European countries.

In particular, he mentioned the increase of new young Catholics in France, the Netherlands, and England as a sign that the proclamation of Jesus Christ continues to bear fruit even in deeply secularized societies.

According to him, many of these young people do not limit themselves to a cultural or sentimental adherence to Christianity, but show a willingness to embrace the teachings of the Church, also regarding morality and the organization of society.

Eijk’s statements precede his intervention this Friday, October 9, in a course on the Church’s social doctrine organized by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana and the International Observatory Cardinal Van Thuân. 

The archbishop will deliver the inaugural lecture, dedicated precisely to social order according to Catholic teaching.

His reflection once again places at the center a fundamental question for public life: the dignity of the human being does not arise from administrative recognition, from a law, or from the agreement of a majority, but from his own nature and, ultimately, from having been created by God. 

A truth that, according to Eijk, Christians are called to proclaim without fear, even when it conflicts with the dominant criteria of contemporary society.

Mons. Schneider warns that the meeting on Amoris laetitia will be meaningless if its errors are not corrected

Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Athanasius Schneider, has warned that the meeting convened by Leo XIV to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia will lack true meaning unless the interpretation allowing divorced and civilly remarried persons to receive Communion without the commitment to live in continence is corrected. 

The prelate considers that the guidelines approved during the pontificate of Francis contradict divine law, weaken the doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, and undermine the sanctity of the Eucharist.

In an exclusive interview granted to journalist Michael Haynes for Catholic Herald, published this Thursday, October 8, Schneider questioned the Vatican’s intention to deepen family pastoral care without first resolving the doctrinal controversies that have accompanied the apostolic exhortation since its publication in 2016.

“How can we deepen what marriage and the family are when confusion exists? We will simply deepen that confusion even further,” he warned.

His statements coincide with the meeting taking place in Rome from October 7 to 14, in which presidents of episcopal conferences and heads of Eastern Catholic Churches are participating to examine the reception of Amoris laetitia and the current challenges of matrimonial pastoral care.

“This must be explicitly corrected because it is contrary to divine law”

Schneider located the origin of the controversy in the guidelines published in September 2016 by the bishops of the Buenos Aires region to implement chapter VIII of Amoris laetitia.

The criteria allowed that, under certain circumstances and after a process of discernment, divorced persons in a new union could access the sacraments even if they had not assumed the commitment to live in continence.

Pope Francis expressly endorsed this interpretation through a letter dated September 5, 2016, in which he stated that the Argentine bishops’ criteria adequately explained the meaning of chapter VIII and added: “There are no other interpretations.”

Subsequently, both documents were published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis with the indication that they should be considered authentic magisterium.

For Schneider, this approval constitutes precisely the core of the problem, since he considers that the guidelines contradict the Church’s constant teaching on marriage and the conditions for worthily receiving the Eucharist.

“This cannot be accepted or continued; it must be explicitly corrected, because it is contrary to divine law,” he declared.

The bishop rejected the idea that the difficulty of living in chastity could become a justification for receiving Communion while maintaining a relationship contrary to the sacramental matrimonial bond.

“We all have the obligation before God to live chastely, with the help of His grace, of course. And with the grace of God it is possible,” he recalled.

In his view, admitting to Communion persons who objectively remain in a situation contrary to the commandments amounts, in practice, to “a denial of the divine truth of the indissolubility of marriage” and “a direct attack on the ineffable sanctity of the Holy Eucharist.”

Schneider went so far as to describe this practice as a material objective profanation of the Eucharist and recalled St. Paul’s warning about those who eat and drink the Body and Blood of the Lord unworthily.

A doctrinal controversy that remains open ten years later

The criticism from the bishop of Astana revives one of the most debated issues of Francis’s pontificate: the relationship between Amoris laetitia and the sacramental discipline reaffirmed by St. John Paul II.

In number 84 of Familiaris consortio, the Polish Pontiff had recalled that divorced and civilly remarried persons could not be admitted to Communion as long as an objectively contrary situation to the indissolubility of marriage persisted. 

When there were serious reasons preventing separation, such as the education of children, access to the sacraments required assuming the commitment to live in complete continence.

The interpretation of Amoris laetitia endorsed by Francis introduced the possibility of a pastoral discernment that, in certain cases, could lead to access to the sacraments without that commitment.

This difference prompted the well-known dubia presented in 2016 by Cardinals Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Carlo Caffarra, and Joachim Meisner, who requested clarifications on the continuity of the Church’s moral and sacramental teaching.

The issue has returned to the forefront on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the exhortation, in a debate that is not limited to a matter of pastoral discipline but affects the relationship between the doctrine on marriage, objective morality, and access to the Eucharist.

Schneider considers that the solution cannot consist in continuing to postpone a clarification. According to the prelate, the interpretation approved by Francis remains in force and requires an explicit correction.

Schneider questions the silence of the meeting convened by Leo XIV

The statements take on special relevance because the meeting currently being held in Rome has been presented by its organizers as an opportunity to deepen the reality of families and evaluate the pastoral experiences developed over the last decade, but not as a doctrinal review of Amoris laetitia.

The proceedings follow a synodal methodology based on listening and the exchange of experiences, with closed-door sessions and without the publication of a new magisterial document being planned.

However, the first days have once again left aside the controversy that caused the most divisions after the publication of the exhortation.

This Thursday, the second day of the meeting avoided addressing footnote 351 and the question of Communion for divorced and civilly remarried persons. The interventions that were made public focused on the contemporary challenges of the family, listening, and the need for new pastoral responses, without directly addressing the doctrinal objections raised over these ten years.

For Schneider, a meeting dedicated to marriage cannot ignore precisely what he considers a threat to its indissolubility and to the dignity of the sacraments.

“These meetings on the family will have no fruit or meaning unless Amoris laetitia and the document of Pope Francis regarding the norms of the bishops of the Buenos Aires region are corrected,” he stated.

The bishop called on the participants to address the matter with honesty and for the Pope to recognize the need to resolve an interpretation that, in his judgment, is harming matrimonial doctrine and the life of families.

Schneider also denounces relativism in interreligious dialogue

During the interview, the auxiliary bishop of Astana also addressed a recent document published on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Nostra aetate, the declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions.

Schneider questioned a formulation that presents the various religions as called to transform society to become fraternal expressions of God’s will.

In his view, this expression risks placing the Catholic faith on the same level as other religions and reducing the Church’s mission to the promotion of a merely human fraternity, without reference to the need for conversion to Jesus Christ.

The prelate described this approach as “a pure expression of relativism” and maintained that God’s salvific will cannot be separated from the recognition of Christ as the sole Savior.

His words extend the reservations he had already expressed regarding the Document on Human Fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019, whose formulation on the diversity of religions he had also questioned before Francis.

Ten years after Amoris laetitia, and while Leo XIV gathers representatives of the worldwide episcopate in Rome to examine its application, Schneider calls for not evading what he considers the fundamental problem of the exhortation: the interpretation that allows access to the Eucharist for divorced and civilly remarried persons without the commitment to continence and which, in his judgment, must be explicitly corrected to safeguard the doctrine on marriage and the sanctity of the sacrament.

Müller defends the title of Co-redemptrix: "It is not an exaggeration, but a truth contained in Revelation"

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has openly defended the title of Co-redemptrix applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary, considering that it expresses a truth contained in Revelation and that it cannot be abandoned because of objections from other Christian confessions. 

His intervention comes amid the ongoing debate over the note Mater populi fidelis, published in November 2025 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which described the use of this Marian title as “always inopportune.”

Müller presented his position this Thursday, October 8, during the international congress De Maria numquam satis, held at the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome.

The full text of his lecture, titled “The Cooperation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Redemption,” has been published by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.

“When Mary is called ‘Co-redemptrix’ in Catholic piety and theology, it is not a deceptive attribution or an enthusiastic exaggeration, but an objectively revealed truth,” the German cardinal stated.

He added a particularly significant warning in the current doctrinal context: “This title must not be silenced because of Protestant rejection,” but should be properly explained within the framework of Christ’s redemptive work.

Mary’s cooperation does not diminish Christ’s unique Redemption

Müller’s central argument is based on a fundamental distinction in Catholic theology: Jesus Christ is the sole Redeemer of the world, but the efficacy and perfection of His sacrifice do not exclude the cooperation of creatures whom God has freely willed to associate with His saving work.

For the cardinal, this participation does not imply competition with Christ or attribute to Mary a redemptive capacity independent of her Son. On the contrary, it manifests the greatness of divine grace, which allows man to truly collaborate with God.

“God does not exclude us from the work of Redemption, but includes us, allowing us to participate and collaborate in the work of Redemption and the perfection of humanity,” he explained.

Müller recalled that Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that God grants creatures the dignity of acting as secondary causes, without diminishing His status as the first cause of all good.

This cooperation reaches an absolutely singular dimension in the Virgin Mary. Her consent at the Annunciation was not, according to the cardinal, a merely passive intervention, but a free response to God’s grace that inseparably linked her to the Incarnation and Christ’s saving work.

The cardinal insisted that Mary’s fiat, pronounced in the name of humanity, cannot be separated from her presence at the foot of the cross. The flesh that Christ offered to the Father for the salvation of the world is the same that He received from His Mother.

A defense of the title against the reservations of Mater populi fidelis

Müller’s statements stand in direct contrast to the position expressed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the doctrinal note Mater populi fidelis, approved by Leo XIV and published on November 4, 2025.

The document, signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, holds that the term “Co-redemptrix” may obscure the exclusive salvific mediation of Jesus Christ and cause confusion among the faithful. 

Therefore, it discourages its use, although it acknowledges Mary’s singular cooperation in the work of her Son.

Müller, without explicitly mentioning the note in the passage dedicated to the title, defends a different conclusion. In his view, the problem does not lie in the traditional expression, but in the need to correctly understand its theological meaning.

The former prefect maintains that Christological titles may be applied analogically to creatures without denying what belongs exclusively to Christ. This is the case, for example, with divine filiation: Jesus Christ is the Son of God by nature, while the baptized receive this condition by adoption and participation in grace.

The same applies, he explained, to mediation. Christ is the sole Mediator between God and men, but priests also participate subordinately in His mediation through sacramental ministry.

Therefore, Müller considers that anyone familiar with the principles of Catholic theology should not find scandal in the analogical use of certain titles applied to the Virgin.

The cardinal also warned against an ecumenism that, in the name of understanding with other Christian confessions, ends up compromising the integrity of Catholic doctrine.

Müller and Burke agree in reclaiming Mary Co-redemptrix

Müller’s intervention comes one day after Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke also reclaimed the title of Co-redemptrix during the opening of the congress in Rome.

Burke had warned that fear of misinterpretations should not lead to weakening the traditional teaching on the Virgin’s cooperation in the Redemption.

Both cardinals agree in defending that the uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice does not prevent recognition of a true, though entirely subordinate, participation of His Mother in the work of salvation.

Müller reinforced this thesis by appealing to the teaching of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, who contrasted the disobedience of Eve with the obedience of Mary. While the former contributed to the entry of sin and death into the world, the latter, through her faith, cooperated in the coming of the Savior.

The cardinal also recalled that doctrinal development cannot be judged solely by the date on which a particular theological expression appears. The fact that a term was formulated centuries after the biblical events does not, in itself, mean that its content is foreign to Revelation.

In this regard, he rejected the argument that the title of Co-redemptrix should be discarded because of its relatively late appearance in the history of theology.

The intervention of the former Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith thus adds a new voice to the debate opened by Mater populi fidelis. 

In contrast to the Dicastery’s caution, Müller claims the theological legitimacy of a title rooted in Marian tradition and maintains that the singular cooperation of the Blessed Virgin in the Redemption must be explained and defended, not silenced for fear of mistaken interpretations.

SSPX defends the Écône consecrations and recalls that the excommunications "are not infallible"

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) has once again defended the episcopal consecrations celebrated on July 1 in Écône and has questioned whether the excommunications declared by Rome can be considered a definitive response to a situation that, according to its position, requires examining the extraordinary circumstances in which they were carried out. 

James Vogel, communications director of the Fraternity, has recalled that an excommunication, however grave, does not constitute an infallible decision and can be reviewed if there are grounds to question its justice or validity.

In an interview granted to LifeSiteNews, published this Thursday, Vogel addressed the accusations of schism directed against the Fraternity after its bishops consecrated four new prelates without a pontifical mandate. 

The statements were made during the Catholic Identity Conference, held in Pittsburgh, United States, where the spokesperson also presented some historical precedents of episcopal consecrations carried out in exceptional circumstances.

“Every Catholic must feel horror at excommunications and at schism,” Vogel acknowledged. However, he added that “excommunications are grave in themselves, but they are not infallible,” recalling that the history of the Church knows of sanctions that were later considered unjust or invalid.

The Fraternity also maintains a canonical appeal against the decree published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 2. According to Vogel, they had not yet received a definitive response.

An excommunication is not an infallible definition

Vogel’s argument focuses on a distinction that has occupied much of the canonical debate following the consecrations: the disciplinary decisions of ecclesiastical authority, even when imposing the gravest sanctions, do not thereby possess the character of irreformable dogmatic definitions.

The Vatican declared that the six bishops participating in the Écône consecrations had incurred automatic excommunication for proceeding without a pontifical mandate and against the express will of Leo XIV. 

An explanatory note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith also described the events as schismatic and extended their canonical consequences to the entire Fraternity and to those who formally adhere to the schism.

The breadth of these measures provoked a new controversy regarding their legal foundation and the circumstances that must concur for canonical penal responsibility to exist.

The FSSPX filed an appeal on July 11 against the decree of the Dicastery, relying on the provisions of the Code of Canon Law concerning the challenge of administrative acts and the suspensive effects of certain appeals.

The Fraternity maintains that its action was motivated by a state of grave necessity and that this circumstance must be taken into account in determining both the responsibility of those involved and the application of penalties.

Vogel insisted that recognizing the gravity of the excommunications does not require renouncing their legal examination. In his view, canon law contemplates circumstances such as necessity and acting in good faith, which can be decisive in assessing conduct.

The spokesperson did not therefore ask that the sanctions be ignored, but that it be examined whether their application is justified in this case.

The precedent of the Ukrainian bishops consecrated under communism

During his intervention in Pittsburgh, Vogel recalled an episode from the recent history of the Church that he considers especially significant: the episcopal consecrations carried out clandestinely by Cardinal Josyf Slipyj in the 1970s.

The Ukrainian cardinal had spent eighteen years imprisoned by the Soviet authorities for refusing to abandon his fidelity to Rome and submit to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Concerned about the survival of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, persecuted by the communist regime, Slipyj consecrated three bishops without having previously requested authorization from Paul VI.

According to Vogel, the cardinal feared that the request would be rejected and considered it necessary to ensure the existence of bishops capable of ordaining priests and guaranteeing the administration of the sacraments.

Those consecrations were eventually recognized by the Holy See. One of the consecrated prelates, Lubomyr Husar, would even be created cardinal by John Paul II.

Vogel presented this precedent to recall that, at certain moments in history, the need to preserve the sacramental life of the faithful has led some bishops to make extraordinary decisions without previously having a pontifical mandate.

Naturally, the circumstances of the communist persecution in Ukraine are not identical to those of Écône. 

However, the precedent allows for a question that the Fraternity considers essential: whether every consecration carried out without the Pope’s authorization necessarily constitutes an act of schism or whether the intention of the consecrators, the circumstances, and the purpose pursued must also be examined.

“We have no intention of creating a parallel Church”

Vogel especially rejected the idea that the July episcopal consecrations imply the will to establish a hierarchy independent of Rome.

The spokesperson recalled that sanctions against consecrations without a pontifical mandate are closely related to the need to prevent the emergence of parallel ecclesiastical structures, as occurred with the interventions of the Chinese communist regime in the organization of a hierarchy subject to political power.

In his view, the situation of the FSSPX is substantially different.

“There is no intention of creating a parallel Church,” he assured, also emphasizing that the bishops of the Fraternity do not claim ordinary jurisdiction over dioceses or territories.

This distinction has been part of the FSSPX’s argumentation since the consecrations carried out by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988. Its bishops exercise sacramental functions, particularly the ordination of priests and the administration of confirmation, without claiming ordinary governance of a particular Church.

Vogel considers that the Fraternity’s actions over the past decades demonstrate that it has not sought to establish a Church separate from the Catholic Church.

The underlying question remains whether an episcopal consecration carried out against the pontifical will constitutes in itself a schismatic act or whether, to establish that qualification, it is also necessary to examine the effective will to break communion with the Roman Pontiff.

The crisis of the Church and the state of necessity

The FSSPX spokesperson also defended that the consecrations must be understood within the doctrinal and sacramental crisis that, in the Fraternity’s view, the Church has been experiencing for decades.

During his conference, he presented various data on the decline of religious practice in the West. Among them, he cited a 2025 Pew Research Center study according to which only 28% of American Catholics declare attending Mass weekly and 23% go to the sacrament of confession at least once a year.

For Vogel, these figures reflect a situation that requires guaranteeing the continuity of priestly formation rooted in traditional Catholic doctrine and the availability of the sacraments for the faithful linked to the Fraternity.

The state of necessity constitutes, in fact, the central argument of the FSSPX to justify its decision to consecrate four new bishops.

Last September, the Fraternity explained why it considers that this necessity persists despite the existence of other traditional institutes recognized by Rome. Its argumentation maintains that the breadth of the ecclesial crisis and the limitations affecting the traditional apostolate prevent considering the problem resolved.

A question that remains pending resolution

Three months after the consecrations, the situation between Rome and the Fraternity continues without finding a satisfactory solution for both parties.

The Holy See maintains its assessment of the facts and the sanctions declared by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The FSSPX, for its part, maintains that it acted to preserve the continuity of its apostolate and has resorted to the procedures provided by Canon Law itself to challenge the measures.

Vogel’s statements once again place the debate on a terrain that goes beyond mere disciplinary disobedience: the relationship between pontifical authority, the preservation of Tradition, the state of necessity, and the limits of the application of canonical penalties.

The Fraternity insists that it recognizes the authority of the Roman Pontiff and that it does not intend to constitute an independent hierarchy. Rome, however, considers that the consecrations carried out against the express will of Leo XIV gravely harm ecclesial communion.

The question thus remains open while awaiting a response to the appeal filed by the FSSPX, which continues to defend that the extraordinary circumstances of its action must be examined before considering definitively resolved a controversy that affects both the discipline of the Church and the pastoral care of numerous faithful linked to Tradition.

Oster, critical of the German Synodal Way, considers the participation of laypeople in episcopal decisions irreversible

The bishop of Passau, Stefan Oster, one of the prelates who has expressed the most reservations about the reforms of the German Synodal Way, believes that the Church has entered a stage in which it is practically impossible to govern a diocese without broad processes of consultation and participation. 

The prelate maintains that the exercise of episcopal authority must increasingly rely on dialogue with the faithful and diocesan leaders, although he maintains his differences with certain proposals of the German reform process.

According to Katholisch.de, Oster made these statements on Wednesday, October 7, during a roundtable held at the University of Passau, dedicated to the application of synodality in local Churches.

The bishop stated that a new prelate can no longer arrive in a diocese and wield “the brutal mace of power” to announce that he will unilaterally change everything done by his predecessor. “That no longer works,” he asserted, convinced that the path toward greater participation in ecclesial life is irreversible.

Episcopal governance can no longer dispense with consultation

Oster explained that his own way of exercising diocesan governance has evolved and that he currently seeks not to make important decisions without a prior process of deliberation.

The prelate also warned of the difficulties a bishop faces when the diocesan structure and its collaborators maintain an institutional culture contrary to his decisions. In such circumstances, he noted, exercising the episcopal ministry can become an extraordinarily difficult task.

In his view, participation requires an environment in which people can speak freely, without fear of expressing their disagreements, and where there is a genuine willingness to listen. When these conditions are met, he maintained, unexpected results can occur and consensus can be reached.

According to the Diocese of Passau as well, Oster linked this transformation to the need to overcome an excessively personal-power-centered conception of ecclesial governance. 

The bishop insisted that synodality should not be reduced to an administrative reorganization, but must be linked to listening to the Holy Spirit and to the encounter among the members of the Church.

“At its core, synodality consists of a deeper faith that God is present in us and among us through his Spirit,” he explained.

A defender of synodality who has questioned the German Synodal Way

The statements are especially significant given the position Oster has maintained during the controversial German Synodal Way.

The bishop of Passau has been one of the members of the episcopate who has publicly expressed his disagreements with several of the reforms advocated by the majority of participants, especially on issues related to sexual morality, the priesthood, and the exercise of authority in the Church.

Last May, Oster denounced the pressures he suffered during the assemblies of the German Synodal Way and acknowledged that those meetings had caused him considerable emotional strain. 

The prelate then explained that his opposition to certain proposals was a matter of conscience and that he had personally shared his concerns about the situation of the German Church with the Pope.

His position therefore distinguishes between the content of some reforms promoted in Germany and the need to foster greater participation of the faithful in processes of ecclesial consultation and discernment.

In fact, Oster has pointed out on previous occasions the differences he sees between the German Synodal Way and the worldwide Synod convened by Francis, whose methodology he considers more appropriate for promoting listening and dialogue within the Church.

In his own diocese, last July a synodal team of 16 members, presided over by the bishop, began working with the aim of studying the application of the conclusions of the worldwide Synod held between 2021 and 2024.

Participation and accountability, still without a defined structure

Klara-Antonia Csiszar, professor of Pastoral Theology at the Private Catholic University of Linz, also spoke at the roundtable, defending the need for synodality to be translated into permanent mechanisms of participation, transparency, and accountability.

The theologian argued that bishops must learn to explain their decisions before the people of God and considered it necessary to develop procedures that allow different voices to be incorporated into ecclesial life.

However, she acknowledged that it is still unclear how to translate these aspirations into legal structures and stable procedures. Csiszar described synodality as a process whose outcome is not fully defined and that requires a willingness to listen and to face disagreements.

Both Oster and Csiszar participated in the worldwide Synod on synodality. The Passau meeting, organized by the Catholic Academy of Bavaria together with the diocese and the university, was precisely dedicated to examining how its conclusions can be applied in the daily life of particular Churches.

The interventions raised a question that remains open in the ecclesial debate: how to expand the participation of the faithful in decisions without blurring the bishop’s own responsibility in the governance of his diocese.

Meeting on Amoris laetitia sidesteps footnote 351

The second day of the meeting convened in Rome to mark the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia left this Thursday with an idea that well summarizes the tone of the family conclave. 

Before the presidents of the episcopal conferences and the heads of the Eastern Churches, Professor Vincenzo Rosito, vice-dean of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II and lecturer at the Lateranense, maintained that the transformations the family is undergoing “are not problems, but human activities,” processes “in which persons and families act, react, learn and develop new resources.”

The day, dedicated to “Families today: reality, beauty and challenges,” gathered in the Paul VI Hall the interventions of Cardinals Mario Grech, Kevin Farrell and Filipe Neri Ferrão, as well as that of Rosito himself. In the afternoon, the work continued in closed-door groups.

Rosito: learning from family practices

The speaker, whom Vatican News itself presents as a “political philosopher,” structured his intervention as questions for discernment. He began with Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas to ask that “each one pay attention to the relationships he builds within his own family and within the Church,” and set forth the central thesis: “family practices help us understand how Churches and families learn from one another. 

Both the Church and the family, in fact, also learn through the practices of their daily life.”

He proposed a personal examination to the bishops: “Am I able to recognize and present to others at least one new thing that I have learned to do, or to do differently, during the last years of my family or pastoral life?” Then came the phrase of the day, about changes that “are not problems, but human activities.” 

As an example, Rosito chose the digital realm: “Let us think, for example, about how the use of new digital technologies is transforming the daily habits of families and the education of children.” Families and Churches, he added, “learn together amid the transformations.”

He also spoke of communities that, “through the experience of refugee and migrant families,” are “reconfiguring themselves as ‘refuge churches,’” and of violence: “The insecurity that comes from social and political violence is a worrying reality that many Churches must face today in their daily life,” capable of “devouring also family affections and ecclesial relationships themselves.”

He closed with a program: “To dream, to imagine new forms for the Church also means renewing what we already do. Imagining the Church means being willing to learn from one another, while we transform ourselves together, as Churches and as families.” 

And with a final question: “What do we need, amid the lights and shadows of the present, to learn and imagine new ways of being family and new ways of being Church?”

In the entire intervention that was released, there is not a single reference to the doctrine on marriage, to sin or to conversion. Change is described as learning, without any criterion to distinguish what builds from what destroys.

Ferrão: “There is no single stereotyped model of the ideal family”

The main address was given by Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Damán and president of the Federation of Asian Episcopal Conferences. 

He opened with a weighty statement, reported by Vida Nueva: “There is no single stereotyped model of the ideal family, but rather a complex mosaic of diverse realities, marked by joys, hopes, difficulties and wounds.”

For the cardinal, “the family is not only a place where the Church proclaims the Gospel, but also a place from which the Gospel comes to life, from generation to generation, from one family to another and from family to society.” He posed to the assembly a question that reverses the usual direction: “What change does the Holy Spirit ask of the Church?” referring “not only to what we do for families, but to how we understand them, accompany them and make them protagonists of the Gospel.” 

And he specified the method: “We do not arrive with prefabricated answers. We discern together with the families and, in doing so, we learn how the Church itself is asked to change.”

His portrait of Asia was stark: “Growth is rapid, but unequal; opportunities increase, but access to them remains discriminatory.” He denounced that “Christian families in various parts of India and Asia are forced to live with growing polarization and religious hostility, which makes it increasingly difficult to express publicly and transmit the faith.”

Regarding the pastoral response, he explained that after Amoris laetitia the Asian Churches “began to listen to families,” and that they now consider “preparation for marriage as the beginning of a lifelong journey.” 

He proposed “moving from a mission directed to families to a mission among families” and warned: “We cannot act as guides from a distance and limit ourselves to pointing out the goal. We must be a beacon and a lamp.” 

He also left a watchword that captures the spirit of the meeting: “Let us not ask what families lack, but what God is already doing in their midst,” together with another phrase of delicate reading in light of chapter VIII: “Fragility is not absence of grace.”

Grech admits “tensions and different interpretations”

The Secretary General of the Synod, Cardinal Mario Grech, opened the morning by presenting the meeting as “an exercise of attentive listening” to the “echoes” that reach the pastors. 

He acknowledged that the reception of Amoris laetitia “has not been uniform” and that “it has known tensions and different interpretations,” and maintained that in each particular Church “the same truth of the Gospel has inspired diverse pastoral responses, shaped by different cultural contexts.” 

The formula chosen to reconcile both was this: “While the message remains unchanged, its reception and application manifest the richness and creativity of the Holy Spirit.”

Grech insisted that the Gospel “is the fundamental voice from which all pastoral action must be inspired,” mentioned the Magisterium as the second echo and reserved the third for families: “Families are protagonists of the Church’s mission, and from them we have much to receive and learn,” according to Vatican News. He admitted that “fidelity and fragility are often intertwined in family history.”

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, limited himself to presenting the theme of the day, recalling words of Leo XIV, “our time is marked by rapid transformations,” and announcing that the participants would ask themselves “where we can find support and signs of hope to live marriage.”

What no one named

None of the interventions released from this second day alluded to chapter VIII of the exhortation, to footnote 351 or to the access to the sacraments of divorced and remarried persons, the point that divided the episcopate for a decade and that motivated the dubia that were never answered. 

The meeting, which will conclude on October 14 with a Mass of the Pope and a synthesis document, will continue tomorrow with the day dedicated to young people and the vocation to marriage, followed by the first press conference of the Holy See.