South African cardinal predicts ‘strong reaffirmation of the Church’s teaching’ from Pope

Catholic World News, November 20, 2015

A South African cardinal who served as one of the four presidents-delegate at the recent Synod of Bishops told an Austrian Catholic news agency that he expects Pope Francis to offer a “strong reaffirmation of Church teaching” in a post-synodal document.

“I therefore expect Pope Francis to throw clear light on what married couples need to do in order to build up good strong marriages via the Sacrament of Matrimony and a well-organized family life that emphasizes prayer, devotions and the sacraments, all celebrated together as a family,” Cardinal Wilfrid Napier told kath.net.

“We should expect a strong reaffirmation of the Church’s teaching with strong emphasis on preparation and accompaniment of newlyweds and those in difficult situations,” he added.

Criticizing “the western media’s obsession with civilly remarried divorcees and homosexual ‘marriages/families,’” he added that “you can’t help suspecting that they were obviously driving an agenda.”

Asked why the Church in Africa is growing while the Church in Europe is declining, he responded:

When you look at Africa, especially from the point of view of human development, social organization and political life, you will appreciate immediately why Africans by and large, have a very strong sense that they need God. It is much easier to recognize and acknowledge where and how He has intervened in your life. That awareness makes it so much easier to accept and practice the religion that brings you into communion with Him.

What can Europe and the West learn from us? That is very difficult to say because the global culture tends to dominate so much that most of the time we are learning from you how to become more self-reliant or even self-sufficient, which is a short jump away from saying, “I don’t really need God!” You can and should learn how to recognize your need for God! …

And that means turning more earnestly towards the Word of God in the Scriptures, the teaching of the Church derived from them, and especially a way of life that makes a big place and space for Jesus Christ as a real person and presence in us and in our life.

 

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