A letter from Pope Francis that was released by the Vatican on Monday revealed, more than ever, his intentions to accept same-sex couples in the Catholic Church as well as his openness to the ordination of women into the priesthood, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
The letter, written on September 25th, was in response to questions published by 5 conservative cardinals from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, challenging the pope to confirm the traditional Catholic teachings on issues such as LGBTQ+ and the acceptance of female ordination in the church.
This comes ahead of the start of a three-week synod at the Vatican at which over 450 bishops and laypeople will discuss the future of the Catholic Church, Associated Press reports. Agenda items for the meeting that were released in June included stronger involvement of women and ordinary faithful in larger decisions as well as the promotion of women to more powerful roles and the “radical inclusion” of LGBTQ Catholics.
In addition, the 5 cardinals published an open letter to Catholics on Monday indicating they felt obligated to inform those of faith “so that you may not be subject to confusion, error, and discouragement.”
Both the questions directed to the pope as well as the letter were posted on the blogs of veteran Vatican reporter Sandro Magister and Messa in Latino.
The retired cardinals appear to be warning the pope that the agenda items for the approaching synod, should they become more aggressively liberal, would unravel the church’s traditional teachings. The group has historically been Pope Francis' most vocal critics and is amongst the highest-ranking.
They specifically asked Francis to affirm that same-sex couples cannot be blessed, which the pope seemed to rebut in his response.
In response to ongoing concern for women and lay people holding more power in the church, another question asked if the synod could replace the pope and the supreme authority.
The cardinals reportedly did not receive satisfactory answers to the document of questions first penned personally to the pope in April. They then edited the questions, asking Francis to respond ‘yes or no,’ which he did not. This was when they collectively decided to publish the questions as well as the open letter online on Monday.
