Gozo Bishop Mario Grech. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Many in the Church face a conundrum when dealing with remarried divorced Catholics but this is a reality that cannot be ignored, according to Gozo Bishop Mario Grech.

“Every person in whatever family he lives should be given pastoral attention,” he said yesterday, before leaving for a special meeting of bishops at the Vatican.

Mgr Grech, who heads the Maltese Episcopal Council, is attending an extraordinary synod on the family called by Pope Francis last year to probe the state of the family.

Families formed by divorced Catholics who remarried and others formed by gay couples were a reality and had to be addressed by the Church, he told journalists before leaving for Rome.

“We will be guilty before God if we do not take the gospel to these people as well,” he said, when asked about what appeared to be a rift within the global Church on how to deal with these new realities.

Mgr Grech said although the Church had its model of the family based on what it believed was God’s project, it did not mean other family forms should be ignored.

We will be guilty before God if we do not take the gospel to these people as well

“It is our duty to give these families pastoral attention because it is also their right to listen to the word of God,” he said. Every family, whatever form it took, needed deep introspection.

The run-up to the synod has seen the Church divide along liberal and conservative lines over the road ahead when addressing new social realities that conflict with the Church’s teachings on the family.

However, Mgr Grech noted that although the media was focused on the argument about divorced Catholics, this was not the only issue at stake in the synod.

The working document released by the Vatican that took note of the feedback received from every diocese also spoke of difficulties caused by joblessness, debt, usury and rifts over inheritance, he added.

This is not just about pastoral concerns but also about social problems that have an impact on society, he said.

What is a synod?

• The synod brings together bishops from around the world who assist the Pope by giving advice on important questions facing the Church.

• This synod is considered extraordinary because it is dealing with one issue: the family.

• The meeting will bring together around 150 bishops. It starts on Sunday and will end on October 19.

• In the run-up all dioceses conducted a questionnaire on the family and findings were forwarded to the Vatican earlier this year.