Posted on 10/12/2026 6:37:34 AM PDT by ebb tide
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão has defended his Amoris Laetitia speech suggesting that the Church must discern how it should change in response to evolving family structures, after questioning over the speech in which he referred to “changing understandings of gender.”
The President of the Conference of Bishops of India made the remarks at Pope Leo XIV’s meeting marking ten years since the publication of Amoris Laetitia on 8 October.
Speaking to this publication’s Vatican correspondent afterwards, Cardinal Ferrão said the Church must accompany people living in different forms of partnership, including relationships outside the Church’s structures, while helping them to live happy family lives.
Before speaking to AdVaticanum, Cardinal Ferrão identified three lessons from the Church’s pastoral experience since Amoris Laetitia was published in 2016: that the Church must “be counter-cultural without losing touch”; move “from mission to families to mission among families”; and recognise that “fragility is not the absence of grace”.
He also spoke of the “beauty of relationship”, “the beauty of resilience and hope” and “the beauty of dialogue”, arguing that the challenges confronting families could reveal “the beauty of grace at work in the ordinary”.
Furthermore, the cardinal identified changes in “the identity, nature and composition of the family” as one of three major transitions affecting families in India and across Asia. He said that “new forms of partnership and cohabitation are emerging, amid changing understandings of gender and relationships in urban settings”.
“Pastoral work is itself a place of discernment,” Cardinal Ferrão said. “We don’t arrive with ready-made answers. We discern together with families and, in doing so, we learn how the Church herself is being asked to change.”
The remarks raised questions about what the cardinal meant by changing understandings of gender and the extent to which his call for the Church to change concerned its pastoral approach or its understanding of family relationships.
Asked directly what changes in the understanding of gender he had intended to identify, Cardinal Ferrão did not specify any change in the meaning of male and female. Instead, he referred to the emergence of different unions and the need for the Church to accompany those involved.
“No, there are different types of unions and so on that are happening,” the cardinal told this publication’s Vatican Correspondent, “This is a new reality, so we have to reflect how we can accompany them in this situation.”
The answer focused on pastoral care for people in different relationships rather than explaining what he meant by changing understandings of gender.
Cardinal Ferrão said the initial meetings had been “very enriching”, particularly because they enabled participants from different parts of the world to hear about the challenges facing families and the responses adopted in different circumstances. “For us, family, as I was saying, is the bedrock of society and the foundational cell of the Church,” His Eminence said.
“But it’s true that our families everywhere are facing various challenges, and it’s beautiful to listen how, in different situations, what are the challenges the families are facing, what type of responses have been given.” His Eminence said the discussions would help the Church improve the way it responded to families and accompanied them in their circumstances. “It is enriching to know, so that we can also improve the way we respond, we accompany, we empower our families to be really witnesses of the Gospel values,” The Cardinal of Goa said.
Another point in the cardinal’s speech concerned his assertion that there was “no single stereotype of an ideal family”. This publication’s Vatican correspondent asked what had to remain true of a family for his further claim that the Gospel came alive through family life to hold.
Cardinal Ferrão, in speaking to AdVaticanum, again emphasised cultural diversity rather than identifying the characteristics that must be present for a family to fulfil that role. “No, I said there is no stereotype. It’s a wide variety,” His Eminence said. “For example, families in India are so different from families in Europe. We face different types of — saying there is a mosaic of diverse situations, but different types of joys, sorrows, agonies, characterizing all the families. But there is no one stereotype model of family, which holds good everywhere”.
Furthermore, the Cardinal of Goa acknowledged when asked about his speech mentioning inter-religious couples that a marriage between two Catholics sharing the same faith was preferable but recognised the realities of interreligious relationships in Asia. “Obviously, a Catholic family where both the partners are of the same religion, because as it is, it’s not easy for two persons to live together. So if there are religious differences, much more,” His Eminence said. “But Asian contexts of multi-religious, these are unavoidable. And therefore, where there are interfaith marriages, it’s the responsibility of the Church to accompany them, so that they can live happily, each one respecting one’s religious difference but still maintaining fellowship in the family.”
On whether the Church should also accompany people living in partnerships outside its structures, Cardinal Ferrão rejected any safeguards by stating, “Yeah. I mean, the Church should accompany everybody, because, for example, in our last FABC plenary, FABC 50 document speaks about moving from basic Christian community to basic human communities. We as Church must accompany everybody, even if there are interfaith marriages or other people who live in partnerships. The role of the Church is to accompany as a mother, to help them to live happy married lives.”
The wider significance of His Eminence’s remarks extends beyond Cardinal Ferrão’s intervention to the synodal method itself. As with previous synodal discussions, the emphasis on listening, shared discernment and accompanying people is intended to bring different experiences into the Church’s deliberations.
The cardinal’s answers illustrate how such a process can generate ambiguity rather than clarity when its participants do not specify what the proposed changes would mean in practice. His appeal to the Holy Spirit, coupled with the assertion that the Church must learn how it is “being asked to change”, raises a question of the intended motive to improve the Church’s response to families within its existing teaching or to reconsider the framework through which those families are understood.
Unless that distinction is made explicit, a process intended to demonstrate ecclesial unity risks exposing unresolved disagreements over the meaning of marriage, the limits of pastoral adaptation and the authority of Church teaching.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
“Do not be transformed by the renewing of your mind, but rather conform to the pattern of this world, for there is no one stereotype model of family, which holds good everywhere”
-Saint Ferrão to the Romans
The important thing is that he didn’t say it in Latin.
He also spoke of the “beauty of relationship”, “the beauty of resilience and hope” and “the beauty of dialogue”, arguing that the challenges confronting families could reveal “the beauty of grace at work in the ordinary”.
This bishop has completely lost his way.
Indeed.
And modernity seeks to replace marriage and family with various grotesque mockeries thereof. Affirming those mockeries is the mortal sin of giving scandal.
Really have to wonder how so many agnostic homosexuals managed to pollute the hierarchy.
MUCH, MUCH more appropriate!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.