Synod cardinals deny 'blockage'

(ANSA) - Vatican City, October 14 - Cardinals participating in the synod on the family denied Wednesday that the meeting has run aground, claiming rather that there is greater creativity than in the past.
    "I do not see this blockage either in the assembly or in the group discussions," said Cardinal Philippe Ouedraogo, archbishop of Ougadougou.
    "I believe that the language groups have been an opportunity for important exchange, and we have the presumption to say that something good will come out of all this work," he continued.
    Cardinal Ouedraogo was echoed by his British counterpart Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.
    "I don't think it is right to talk about a blockage," the cardinal said. "There is truly a lot of energy, a lot of creativity: we are families with difefrences of opinion, that's normal, and the way we address these themes must be such that we do not let ourselves be guided by the hermeneutics of conflict, this is not the spirit we must pursue, I do not believe there is such a blockage," Nichols insisted. "In a synod it is not a question of comparing theories or ideologies, but of trying to understand the richness of the manifestation of God, each one of us starting from his particular situation," Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez of Colombia said. The greater "creativity" noted by Nichols with respect to past synods is allegedly due to the correlation between the work of the small groups and that of the assembly, suggesting that the new methodology introduced by Pope Francis, which apparently found criticism in a letter from 13 conservative cardinals leaked to the press earlier this week, is working. The synod is far from over and it is difficult to anticipate the outcome.
    However, Ouedraogo, Nichols and Salazar Gomez are not the only synod fathers to believe a valid synthesis is possible; similar views have also been expressed by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal George Pell, among the alleged signatories of the leaked letter to the pope. http://popefrancisnewsapp.com/