Catholic bishops scrap welcome to gays
Catholic bishops have scrapped their landmark welcome to gays, showing deep divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families.
The bishops failed to approve even a watered-down section on ministering to gays which stripped away the welcoming tone contained in a draft document earlier in the week.
Two other paragraphs concerning the other contentious issue at the synod - whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive communion – also failed to pass.
The Pope insisted in the name of transparency that the full document be published with the voting tally. The document is to serve as the basis for future debate leading up to another meeting of bishops next October.
