Synod15: Press Briefing Oct. 7th

Deborah Castellano Lubov World Wednesday 7th of October 2015

Vatican City (ZENIT) --



Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, says, "We are not here to win anything, we are here to arrive at the truth of the Lord that He has set out for His Church."

This afternoon at the Vatican press office,with its director, Father Federico Lombardi, French Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, and Monsignor Salvador Pineiro Garcia-Calderon, the American archbishop expressed this when commenting onthe Holy Father's advice for prelates to not 'pick sides' and become divided in the Synod hall. The Synod Fathers were givingtheir thoughts on the third day of the Synod of Bishops, Oct. 4-25, being held on the topic "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World."

The Synod Fathers, eachfor a different language group, observed thattoday was the first fullday of theCircle of Minors, when different language groups with diverse ethnic and cultural compositions gather to examine family issues.Within these discussions, the topic of reforming language, in a way which does not in any way compromise, was brought up.

When ZENIT asked Archbishop Chaput if changing language to seem more welcoming to some could potentially be used by politicians to mean things in ways the Church does not intend, the prelate said, 'Yes,' and that this has come up in their discussions and is being considered. He also added the concern that sometimes translations cause additional misunderstandings.

"We have to be careful with our language so people don't get hurt, but also, we must be faithful to Church doctrine," he said.

"We need dialogue between the universal andlocal Church," the archbishop said, noting,"It's not appropriate for single episcopal conferences to make decisions on doctrine."

To point outthe magnitude of the task ahead of the Synod's bishops, he said, "Who is our audience?Our audience is huge, and we must address that diversity."

From this, he mentioned how somein the English-speaking group expressed concerns this morningthat Instrumentum Laboris does not reflect the Universal Church, but reflects more the Northern Hemisphere and Europe's concerns perhaps more than other continents and regions.


TheAmerican prelate spoke about the passage from the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia to where we are today, in the Synod discussing the family. He said it was his delight to host the Holy Father, and affirmed that the event had a great impact on him as Philadelphia's archbishop, which he hopes carries into the synod.



When reflecting onthe World Meeting of Families, he said its purpose of celebratingfamily life was really visible aspeople came away "strengthened and encouraged about the future."He also praised that "there was a hunger for the reaffirmation of the Church's teaching on marriage."






When asked regarding therenewed language toward homosexuals, the archbishop noted that although mentioned,it was notthe dominant point of the conversation."I am sure the topic of same sex attraction will be in future conversations andI hope we find language that welcomes and doesn't hurt," he said.