Pope Francis: 'God is not afraid of new things'

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday, as he beatified Pope Paul VI who implemented the Second Vatican Council's vast changes, called on the church to adapt to "changing conditions of society."

His remarks took on added meaning as the bishops ended a two-week conference by rejecting landmark wording that would soften the church's stance toward homosexuality and divorce.

"God is not afraid of new things," Francis pointedly said during the beatification Mass.

Whether the document issued Saturday by the bishops is viewed as a setback for the pope, the conference did show the church can discuss difficult topics — such as the role of gays, lesbians and divorced Catholics. It also exposed a wide rift between conservative and liberal-minded leaders.

"The bishops did what Francis asked them to do, which was to talk about these topics in an open way with no issues left off the table," said Robert Mickens, a veteran Vatican commentator with Global Pulse magazine, which focuses on Catholic affairs. "The plan was to take the bishop's pulse on these issues, and in the end that's what happened, and it accurately showed a split between reformers and conservatives."

An interim document issued last week by the bishops halfway through their synod included wording that welcomed the "gifts and qualities" of gay Catholics and called on pastors to "avoid any language or behavior" that could discriminate against divorced Catholics.

Such reconciliatory language was left out of Saturday's report.

Some experts drew a parallel between Francis' efforts to reshape the church as a more progressive and open institution with Paul's tumultuous implementation of the Second Vatican Council, which dramatically modernized the church in the 1960s and 1970s by doing away with the Latin Mass, among other changes.

"It's a wonderful fact that these two reforming popes were brought together by this ceremony, after the synod," said Filippo d'Aosta, 80, a retired professor of religion and philosophy who brought his two grandchildren to St. Peter's.

Sunday's ceremony leaves Paul, who was pope from 1963 until his death in 1978, just one step short of sainthood. Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, who came before and after Paul, respectively, were made saints six months ago. Also attending the beatification Mass was Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

Since Francis became pope last year, he has repeatedly broken with tradition.

While the bishops failed to build on the tone Francis set last year when he famously said, "Who am I to judge?" when asked whether gays can be good Christians, observers applauded the openness of addressing the contentious issues.

The end of this synod starts a year-long debate and discussion before a three-week synod a year from now. That meeting will produce a document to be used as pastoral guidelines. Saturday's document is just a starting point.

Michele Ippolito, a Vatican watcher with the Italian news site Fanpage, predicted Francis would spend the year making his case with bishops in hopes of building a consensus for a more tolerant view toward gays and divorced Catholics, as well as in other areas.

"The next year could go one of two ways," Ippolito said. "You could see support coalesce around the kinds of statements that fell just short of the two-thirds majority in this synod, or you could see the split between the two sides grow, which could lead to some very serious issues."

Evidence of the wide gap among church leaders is clearly visible. Conservative church groups have blasted Francis' outreach toward gays and the divorced, as well as the pope's critiques of capitalism and dialogues with other faiths. A group of cardinals and bishops, including U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke — who has since been reassigned to a lower-profile role — was hostile toward the earlier language more accepting of gays and divorced Catholics.

Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and Vatican expert with the National Catholic Reporter, said the apparent gap between the two sides is less of a problem than it seems.

"If Pope Francis wanted to be a dictator, he could have just ordered whatever he wanted. Rather, he invited the bishops to an open, collegial discussion," Reese said. "This is not the end of the process. The report, and hopefully the pope's address, will become the point of departure for a much richer discussion. The synod was a big win for openness."