I would bet that they were salivating for some magisterial pronouncement that they could start deconstructing by throwing a variety of bulls,moto proprios,encyclicals,anathemas and other documents that were promulgated throughout the ages by the Popes and could be admixed and interpreted to be contradictory.
Oblivious,or wickedly cognizant,of the levels of acceptance ordinary Catholics owed to the various documents they (catholics and non-catholics dedicated to destroying the Church) could have used anything he wrote as a start to engaging in yet another long and confusing battle of words,specious arguments,dissembling and outright lies. All activities that distract participants from the focusing on the truth as well as immediate crises and resolution of same.
This Pope is brave and brilliant,with this decision he has defused their ammunition and is doing exactly what Jesus told Peter to do in their last talk in John and that was "you,follow me." Ideally,that is the way it is supposed to work,Peter follows Jesus,the apostles follow Peter (Pope),the priests follow the apostles (bishops) and we who are Catholics follow our priests on that journey that leads us home to the Father.
I pray for him every day. I remember what he said about praying that he would not run from the wolves.
I expect this document on natural law to be quite explosive. While I was in Rome, they passed a law basically declaring a gay "union" or heterosexuals who had lived together for at least one year to be the same as a married couple, in terms of their legal treatment, benefits, etc. For it to have passed, at least some ostensibly Catholic legislators must have voted for it. If what the Pope does is essentially tell them that going along with or voting for something that violates natural law means that they are incurring a sin (presumably one that results in excommunication), there's going to be a lot of commotion. The news reports that I heard said that the declaration would be binding on Catholics.
Italian gays, like those anywhere else, are bitter, disruptive and violent in their hatred of the Church and particularly of this Pope. It's not going to be fun when this document is released.
In addition, the Pope is working on another important document to do with bioethics, IIRC.
**This Pope is brave and brilliant,with this decision he has defused their ammunition and is doing exactly what Jesus told Peter to do in their last talk in John and that was "you,follow me." **
What is so wonderful is that he is appointing bishops that will do likewise! Hooray!