European Catholics debated on February 9 morning the contents of a final document that will influence the discussions of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in the fall.
On the final day of public speeches in Prague on Feb. 9, the 200 delegates at the European Continental Assembly were asked if the assembly’s final document drafted by a six-member committee was faithful to what was discussed in the previous three days of the assembly.
Ukrainian Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy, a Latin auxiliary bishop of Kyiv, was one of the first to take the floor, raising an objection to the repeated use of the term LGBTQ on “every other page” in the document, suggesting instead that it would be better to cover the topic within a single paragraph.
Archbishop StanisBaw Gdecki objected to the framing of “conservative and liberal” when describing the Church, suggesting instead to clarify whether given statements agree or disagree with the Gospel.
The Polish prelate added that the document does not communicate the position of the Church in its references to “LGBT” per-sons.
Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German bishops’ conference, said that the Church is not yet in a “new Pentecost” as the document claimed.
Archbishop Felix Gmür of Basel, Switzerland, noted that parts of the text seemed “too vague” and could be more clear, especially in underlining where tensions exist.