Pope Francis has organized a meeting with more than 200 senior Roman Catholic bishops. The purpose of this gathering, or synod is to convince and urge them to try and not impose the intolerable moral burden on Christian believers. Such gatherings, which also go by the name of synod usually take place when the members of the Church need to address certain controversial subjects. This year, they will be joining to discuss subjects like abortion, contraception, divorce or homosexuality. The synod is expected to last two weeks. However, there are slim chances of significant changes taking place, regarding these matters.
At the opening Mass of the synod, Pope Francis expressed his hope that the bishops would take active part in the dialogue and discuss openly about these controversial issues. He said: “Synod gatherings are not meant to discuss beautiful and clever ideas, or to see who is more intelligent”. He also added that they should be an opportunity to work properly with “authentic freedom and humble creativity”. In the past, such synods have had certain agendas, but the discussions were controlled by cardinals of the Roman Curia, which is practically the central government of the Church. This year, the synod will mainly focus on issues related to family life.
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Pope Francis is known to have a less traditional view on controversial subjects related to the church. He declared on Saturday that he expects the bishops to react better to the changes that families go through nowadays. Last year, Pope Francis launched an international survey. The results of this major survey showed that most Catholics do not accept the teachings of the Church on such delicate subjects, like sex or contraception. He believes the Church needs to adjust to the modern world. In the past, the Catholic Church did not seem too eager to change anything about its teachings. Pope Francis, who was elected to lead the Church last year came as a surprise to everyone. Some Christians dislike the Pope’s way of seeing religion, while others welcome his reforms. After these following two weeks of debate, the Synod will regather after a year to continue their reviews.