Yesterday we reported that an overwhelming majority of Synod Fathers have signified their opposition to the "Kasper proposal" to give communion to the "divorced and remarried". La Croix's report on yesterday's Synod proceedings (Les évêques restent timides dans leurs propositions) gives a more precise number: only one out of four bishops were in favor. This statistic emerged in the course of the voting in the circuli minori over the proposed amendments or modi (at least 600, according to La Croix) to the third and most controversial part of the "Instrumentum Laboris", the part that (among other things) deals with divorced couples.
One out of four, or 25%, is smaller than even the "35%" support for Kasper's proposal that was estimated by Abp. Mark Coleridge of Brisbane earlier during the Synod, and the "three out of ten working groups" who supported the proposal in the Synod of 2014 according to Cardinal Pell. If anything, this Synod seems to have resulted in a decrease of support for Kasper. This is a crushing blow, we repeat, a crushing blow to the position of Cardinal Kasper and Co, stealthily supported by the highest echelons in the Church since February 2014, and even earlier, and by Synod manipulations since before the organization of the 2014 Synod. Well done, Synod fathers!
Nevertheless, this is not the time to be complacent, in the same way that some had prematurely celebrated Cardinal Erdo's speech on the first day of the Synod. The same La Croix article that carried news of the Kasperite defeat also has this ominous passage:
"On contraception, we proposed a modus which gives much more weight to the conscientious decision of couples [la décision en conscience des couples] and it passed!" rejoiced a Hispanic synod father.
This means that in at least one of the language group reports to be published later today (and we know which, one of the two Hibericus), there will possibly be language trying to muddle the clear words of Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, and Evangelium Vitae. However, considering the general defeat across the board, we will have to see exactly if this is just propaganda from a defeated progressive. As the article notices, not even the German language group, Germanicus, could agree on supporting Kasper's doctrine on destruction of the indissolubility of marriage.
***
That the Instrumentum Laboris effectively rejects Humanae Vitae "by suggesting that a well-formed conscience may be in conflict with objective moral norms" was pointed out shortly before the Synod by a group of Catholic moral theologians and philosophers in an open letter. Unfortunately the debates over the Kasper proposal, doctrinal "decentralization" and liberal calls for a more "positive" language deflected attention from the danger posed to HV by the Instrumentum Laboris, and -- if La Croix is to be believed -- this danger has just now become all the greater.
The next four days (Wednesday to Saturday) are the most crucial days in this Synod, as the "final Relation" nears completion at the hands of the commission of ten prelates appointed by Francis. Aside from the Kasper proposal, there are other major issues that deserve equal vigilance and scrutiny:
1) the calls for "devolving" doctrine to the local hierarchies,
2) the liberal demands for more "positive" language and the de facto rejection of traditional language versus sexual sin,
3) the ambiguous calls for greater openness to homosexuals,
4) the de facto rejection of Humanae Vitae in the name of a false reading of conscience,
5) the acceptance by the bishops of "annulment" reform practically without question, in time for its coming into force by end of this year; and
6) the general opening of holy communion to non-Catholic Christians married to Catholics.
All the more reason to continue our prayers and mortifications in the coming days...
1) the calls for "devolving" doctrine to the local hierarchies,
2) the liberal demands for more "positive" language and the de facto rejection of traditional language versus sexual sin,
3) the ambiguous calls for greater openness to homosexuals,
4) the de facto rejection of Humanae Vitae in the name of a false reading of conscience,
5) the acceptance by the bishops of "annulment" reform practically without question, in time for its coming into force by end of this year; and
6) the general opening of holy communion to non-Catholic Christians married to Catholics.
All the more reason to continue our prayers and mortifications in the coming days...
