The CN Newsroom, with Vatican Radio
Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo, Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, 81 years old, does not participate personally in the Synod of Bishops, which is underway in the Vatican, but accompanies it with attention.
Archbishop Hummes was also Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the clergy during the papacy of Benedict XVI, he is 40 years ago, and Bishop from his pastoral experience, certain that the Assembly will bring answers to the expectations of the families.
“I’m very hopeful, I hope very much that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the Synod Fathers so that they can, in fact, give a support to the Pope about what he will decide about the big issues,” he said.
The cardinal hopes such an attitude of the synod fathers in family, pastoral and more specific issues, especially the situation of couples in second marriage.
“I fully support that it is a penitential path for couples in second marriage, so that they can participate in more of the sacraments of the Church. I hope so and I fully support this hope and this study, because it is a study that you want to do and if you want to search for in any case a penitential path for them. And it’s also, of course, what the world press more focuses on “.
To proceed, the Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo States that he enjoyed the interview that Bishop Sergio Castriani gave on the family in the Amazon, where he puts a few points about family life in the Amazon.
“Catholics, Christians, are living in a very different world, which evolved. There is a change of time, is a very secular society, very laicized, finally, subjectivist this is the world we’re there, we can’t think of a family in another world but this. “
Then, Catholics, Christians seek to live the Gospel in this world, he adds. It’s no use to dream in a world that does not yet exist or in a world that already existed and which is no longer there.
“We have to help Catholics, families, to live as they want in this world of today, in this civilization, this dominant culture of today. I think, in fact, it is a very decisive moment and have a lot of hope that the Holy Spirit enlightens the Pope afterwards and helps find this path he searches, too. But he wants the support and the lights, through dialogue with the Church and especially with the Synod. “
When complete, Cardinal Hummes claims that the Pope Francis always says ‘ the Synod is not a Parliament ‘ where to defend individual or group positions, but it is a walk together.
“The Church has to walk along and the Pope will lead, finally, this walk. It is expected that the Church walk with him even, sometimes, in the shadows of mystery. Our faith brings us to this, we have to walk even in the dim light of faith, believing that the Pope leads because he has this particular way, this function and therefore also the assistance of the Holy Spirit for this. “