Pope Francis on Monday
turned his attention from a family synod that ended with rifts
on gay and divorced people to the Middle East where he and the
Vatican's top foreign official urged the UN to step up the ISIS
fight and appealed for the region's beleaguered Christians.
In the wake of the synod, Francis told the Catholic Church
that it should not be afraid of change.
At the two-week synod on the family, divisions within the
clergy on gays and divorced people again came to the fore
despite what many commentators have described as Francis's
"revolutionary" message on these issues.
The synod's final document showed openings on these issues
that appeared in a half-way working document had largely been
reversed.
Vote counts published by the Vatican showed that three
controversial articles, including the final version of one
concerning gays, won an absolute majority but failed to get the
two-thirds vote needed for a broad consensus.
"God is not afraid of new things. That is why he is
continuously surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in
unexpected ways," the pope said during a Mass on Sunday at which
he beatified Pope Paul VI.
At the weekend, the pope told around 200 bishops that it
was necessary for conservatives to avoid "hostile rigidity" but
also warned liberals against "destructive good will".
The first version of the synod document spoke of "accepting
and valuing their sexual orientations" and giving gays "a
welcoming home" and also mentioned the "gifts and qualities"
homosexuals have to offer.
Those parts were deleted from the final document.
The final version stressed that there was "no foundation"
to compare homosexual unions with heterosexual marriage.
Turning his attention to the Middle East, Francis
said said terrorism in Iraq and Syria had reached "dimensions
previously unimaginable" with many Christians "persecuted" and
forced to "leave their homes in a brutal way... unfortunately
amid the indifference of many".
He added that this "unjust situation" called for an
"adequate response from the international community".
The Argentine pontiff also told cardinals and patriarches
gathered at a consistory that "we cannot resign ourselves to
think of the Middle East without Christians, they have confessed
the name of Jesus there for 2,000 years".
The Vatican's top diplomat also drove home the massage to
the consistory.
The United Nations must act to prevent possible new acts of
"genocide" by ISIS, Vatican Secretary of State
Cardinal Pietro Parolin said.
"In the case of the violations and abuse committed by the
so-called Islamic State, the international community, via the
United Nations and the structures set up for such emergencies,
will have to act to prevent possible new genocide and assist the
numerous refugees," he said.
"Attention must be paid," Parolin added, "to the sources
that sustain (ISIS') terrorist activities through more-or-less
clear political support, as well as through illegal commerce in
oil and the supply of weapons and technology".
Cardinal Parolin then repeated Pope Francis' denunciation
of the arms trade, saying:
"In a moment of particular gravity, given the growing
number of victims caused by the conflicts raging in the Middle
East, the international community cannot close its eyes before
this question, which has profound ethical relevance".
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