Pope Francis, starting Vatican summit, tells delegates not to impose pet agendas

2/10/2024 17:25

        Pope Francis on Wednesday opened a global summit of Catholic leaders, which has postponed action on divisive issues such as women's ordination until 2025, with a warning that delegates should not seek to foist pet agendas onto the assembly.
        
        At a Mass in St. Peter's Square to open the event, known as a Synod of Bishops, the pope told the hundreds of cardinals, bishops and lay people taking part not to treat their contributions at the month-long summit as "agendas to be imposed".
        
        "Otherwise we will end up locking ourselves into dialogues among the deaf, where participants seek to advance their own causes or agendas without listening to others," the pontiff said.
        
        The Vatican summit, which aims to chart the future of the Catholic Church and includes 368 voting members from more than 110 countries, drew fierce censure from the pope's conservative critics at an earlier session last year.
        
        The critics expressed particular concern about plans to discuss blessings for same-sex couples and to allow women to be deacons.