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Five cardinals request clarity from Pope Francis on concerns about Synod, Catholic doctrine

Five prominent cardinals have submitted dubia to Pope Francis about the Synod on Synodality, asking five urgent questions about possible attacks on the Church’s doctrines, including the possibility of homosexual blessings, the weight of teaching afforded to the synod, female ordination, and the necessity of repentance in sacramental Confession.

Broken to the Catholic public on October 2, news of previously private correspondence between five cardinals and Pope Francis, expressing grave concerns about the upcoming Synod on Synodality, was revealed. They highlighted the urgency of the synod as a catalyst for the intervention, noting the synod as an event “which many want to use to deny Catholic doctrine on the very issues which our dubia concern.”

Veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister wrote that the five cardinals recognized the late Cardinal George Pell “shared these ‘dubia’ and would have been the first to endorse them.”

The cardinals ask (full text produced below):

  1. Is it possible for the Church today to teach doctrines contrary to those she has previously taught in matters of faith and morals…
  2. Is it possible that in some circumstances a pastor could bless unions between homosexual persons, thus suggesting that homosexual behavior as such would not be contrary to God’s law…
  3. Will the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome, and which includes only a chosen representation of pastors and faithful…
  4. Will the Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome, and which includes only a chosen representation of pastors and faithful…
  5. Can a penitent who, while admitting a sin, refuses to make, in any way, the intention not to commit it again, validly receive sacramental absolution?

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