"The Synod Fathers and all those who have the mission of accompanying the families should begin with an examination of conscience, asking: What have we done with this gift from God? The extraordinary wealth of experience that God has offered to His Church?" With these words Msgr. Jean Laffitte, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, directly asks the pastors how they have used, in the last decades, the teachings of the Magisterium on marriage and family, from Gaudium et Spes to Pope Francis' recent catechesis.
The comments made by the Secretary in an interview with the website Rossoporpora, touch on some of the major issues addressed by the Synod (Eucharist to remarried divorcees, same-sex unions, cohabitation, pastoral care for the family), while encouraging its members to keep a good grasp on the Doctrine and so avoid revolutions, such as that of giving remarried divorcees access to Holy Communion: "Granting that possibility would be a real revolution, like that already experienced by some Protestant denominations, with notable consequences: abandonment by the faithful, internal fractures that have led to the separation within the confession... Today, the help of divine grace in this world is underestimated. In pastoral discussions, the idea seems to prevail that abstinence from sexual relations for the remarried divorcees is a disproportionate requirement, which goes far beyond human capacity. Whoever shares this idea in fact considers the remarried divorcees as second class Christians."
