A Report on the Sodomy Synod

The Extraordinary Synod on the Family, held in Rome from October 5-19, has proved to be the most controversial gathering of Catholic bishops since the Second Vatican Council. It has seen open conflict within the College of Cardinals and between bishops. The conflict has been centered on questions surrounding human sexuality but stems from a deeper rift between those who strive to be faithful to the natural law and the teaching of the Catholic Church and those who strive to distort that teaching to bring it into conformity with the revolutionary principles of modernity.

INTRODUCING CARDINAL KASPER

The lead-up to the synod, and the synod itself, were dominated by the proposal made by Walter Cardinal Kasper that validly married Catholics who had divorced and entered into an invalid civil union could be admitted to Holy Communion without amendment of life.

On 17th March 2013, just four days after his election, Pope Francis gave lavish praise to Kasper’s book, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life, during his first Angelus address:

In these days, I have been able to read a book by a cardinal—Cardinal Kasper, a talented theologian, a good theologian—on mercy. And it did me such good, that book, but don't think that I'm publicizing the books of my cardinals. That is not the case! But it did me such good, so much good ... Cardinal Kasper said that hearing the word mercy changes everything.

The book in question, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life, reflects Kasper’s longstanding opposition to the doctrine of the immutability of God. In 1967 he had written:

The God who is enthroned over the world and history as a changeless being is an offence to man. One must deny him for man’s sake, because he claims for himself the dignity and honour that belong by right to man…. We must resist this God, however, not only for man’s sake, but also for God’s sake. He is not the true God at all, but rather a wretched idol. For a God who is only alongside of and above history, who is not himself history, is a finite God. If we call such a being God, then for the sake of the Absolute we must become absolute atheists. Such a God springs from a rigid worldview; he is the guarantor of the status quo and the enemy of the new.  (more...)

A Report on the Sodomy Synod