Noted Czech theologian Fr. Tomas Halik helped lead a Vatican gathering for some 200 parish priests about the ongoing synod process. He told NCR he was encouraged by the open and frank discussions that took place.
Pope Francis has now established 10 working groups to study some of the most controversial issues that have emerged in the Synod of Bishops. Theologians say it is difficult to assess what their impact might be.
Pope Francis has written to a group of parents of LGBTQ persons, responding to their criticism of a Vatican document that condemned gender theory and gender-affirming surgeries. He told them he received their critique with an "open heart."
"Tradition comes alive in the art of creatively transmitting the messages entrusted to us. We must transmit them in new translations into a living, intelligible language," Father Tomáš Halík, a Czech theologian, told the priests. "To be faithful to tradition is not to be resistant to change."
Listen: In this episode of The Vatican Briefing, a leading Catholic bishop on the U.S.-Mexico border expresses "grave concern" that the 2024 presidential race could lead to further demonization of migrants seeking to enter the country.
The most important outcome of the current Synod of Bishops on synodality is the synodal process itself and not the hot-button topics discussed, Pope Francis said.
