On grandparents: “
I’ve thought about the grandparents with their wisdom, their advice gives strength to the family and they don’t deserve to end up in nursing homes”
On the family: “The topics for the Synod have been submitted to me... in the end, it was decided to talk about the family, which going through a very serious crisis. It is difficult to form. Few young people are getting married. There are many broken families, in which the project of common life has failed. The children suffer a lot. We must give an answer. However, in order to do that it’s necessary to think very deeply. ... It’s in the light of deep reflection that the specific situations—including those of the divorced—can be addressed seriously, with pastoral depth.”
On Cardinal Walter Kasper’s report at the last Consistory: “Cardinal Kasper has made a very beautiful and profound presentation—soon to be published in German—, and he has dealt with five points, the fifth of which was that of second marriages. I would have been worried, if there had not been an intensive discussion at the Consistory; it would have been useless. The Cardinals knew they could say what they wanted, and they presented many different, enriching viewpoints. The brotherly discussions are open, and they make the theological and pastoral thinking grow. I have no fear of that; on the contrary, that is what I seek.”
On Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae: “Everything depends on how Humanae Vitae is interpreted. Paul VI, in the end, advised the confessors to show great mercy, to be attentive to concrete situations. However, his genius was prophetic; he had the courage to stand up against the majority, to defend moral discipline, to exercise cultural restraint, and to put up resistance to present and future neo-malthusianism. The issue is not changing the doctrine, but going deep and ensuring that the pastoral care takes into account the situations and what can be done for people. This will also be discussed along the Synod’s path.”
