Currents News Staff
It was a prayerful visit to Rome by U.S. bishops, who were met by a frustrated pontiff. Pope Francis expressed his feelings about the reaction to his Amazon document.
“He kind of expressed, not surprise but he expressed that some people were disappointed because it didn’t address the issue of viri probati or married priests,” explained Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, Florida.
He, along with several other U.S. bishops, spent close to three hours Feb. 13 with the Holy Father yesterday as part of their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.
During the meeting, the pontiff’s Apostolic Exhortation, which was just released that week, was brought up.
“He said we were there to talk about the issues of the Church in the Amazon,” said Bishop William Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fl. “Other people wanted me to talk about celibacy they made that the issue… that wasn’t the issue of this Synod… he said it would be sad if that was the one thing that they focused on, because they’re not going to be happy.”
Many Catholics around the world were waiting to hear the Holy Father’s thoughts on married priests and women deacons, which was not in the pontiff’s document.
Pope Francis told the bishops he’s accused of not being courageous or not listening to the Holy Spirit, when he says or does something someone disagrees with.
“He also clarified that a Synod is not a parliament where people take majority votes on a whole bunch of issues,” said Archbishop Wenski.
“If it’s a real Synod, the only way it can be is if the Holy Spirit is at work and there’s an honest effort at discernment,” said Auxiliary Bishop Joel Konzen of Atlanta, Georgia.