Before the World Synod: Conservative cardinals write letter to Pope

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According to media reports, the cardinals wanted to know whether blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples and the ordination of women should remain banned.

The clergy, who are considered conservative, including the German Walter Brandmüller, asked five critical questions on controversial topics to the head of the Catholic Church in a so-called Dubia letter, as Brandmüller confirmed on Monday at the request of the German Press Agency.

In a dubia letter, theological questions are framed as doubts, to which the Pope usually answers in a “yes-or-no” format. The cardinals also referred to the world synod that starts on Wednesday and asked whether it could exercise decision-making powers that should be primarily reserved for the pope or the college of bishops. According to observers, the five are critical of the pope’s reform approach.

The cardinals sent a first version of the letter in July, to which the pope also responded. However, according to media reports, his response was not in the usual dubia format, and so the cardinals wrote another letter to the Pope in August with reformulated questions. They received no answer to this. The letter then became public on Monday – two days before the start of the long-awaited world synod. During the meeting in the Vatican, clergy and non-clergy debated participation and a different way of dealing with matters in the church.

In addition to 94-year-old Brandmüller, cardinals Raymond Burke from the US, Juan Sandoval from Mexico, Robert Sarah from Guinea and the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen, also wrote the letter. Brandmüller wrote a similarly critical letter to the Pope in 2016, which led to dismay in the Vatican. Back then it was still about dealing with divorced women.

(SDA)

Source: Blick