USA Today - Catholic bishops rejected a landmark change in the rigid stance on gays and divorcees, revealing enormous gaps within the church at the end of a two-week meeting.
The synod's final statement failed to include remarkably conciliatory language revealed a week ago that would have welcomed the "gifts and qualities" of gay Catholics and called on pastors to "avoid any language or behavior" that could discriminate against divorced Catholics.
The failure to reach a consensus on broader-reaching language is a failure for the more tolerant tone Pope Francis has struck since taking the role of pontiff more than a year ago. Last year, the pope made waves when, in response to a question about whether gays could be good Christians, he asked, "Who am I to judge?"
The Vatican downplayed Saturday's developments, with Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi stressing at a briefing that the document — which sets guidelines for pastors to follow in their ministries — was a work in progress that could be tweaked and discussed over the next year.
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