POPE Francis I has suffered a major setback in his battle to get the Catholic Church to accept gays and homosexuals when he failed to receive the necessary two-thirds support for his proposals at a recent meeting of the church's synod.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis suggested that the Vatican could support gay civil unions in the future in line with the more liberal, modern and tolerant regime he is trying to introduce across the church. Papal spokesman Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said that the pontiff wants the Catholic Church to study same-sex unions rather than condemn them.
In March this year, the pope met with President Goodluck Jonathan in the Vatican to try and get him to rescind Nigeria's Draconian anti-gay laws. On January 7 President Jonathan signed the Draconian Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill, which penalises homosexuals with 14 years imprisonment into law.
Hoping to pursue his liberal agenda further, Pope Francis got the Catholic synod to draft a report calling for greater openness towards homosexuals and divorced Catholics who have remarried. However, the paragraphs calling for this were not approved and were stripped from the final text of the report.
All other parts of the draft report were accepted by the synod and it will inform further debate before it reconvenes in larger numbers in a year's time. Proposals to welcome gay people and remarried Catholics met with resistance from conservatives and had been watered down in the final version that was voted on but they were still rejected.
Pope Francis told attendees that he would have been worried and saddened if there had not been animated discussions or if everyone had been in agreement or silent in a false and acquiescent peace. He also cautioned against hostile inflexibility and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God.
While the earlier draft had said that homosexuals had gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community, the revised document only said that discrimination against gay people is to be avoided. Pope Francis had made a powerful appeal to traditionalists not to lock themselves within the letter of the law but conservative cardinals and bishops carried the day at the end of the synod.
Vatican spokesman Tom Rosica, said: "Keep in mind this is not a magisterial document. The pope asked for it to be made available to show the degree of maturity that has taken place and that which still needs to take place in discussions over the coming year."
Three crucial paragraphs in the final document all received more than 50% of the vote, although they failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority. This allows the necessary leeway for further discussion before the synod reconvenes in Rome in a year's time.
