For those who were busy watching those other Cardinals (congratulations, Giants fans), here’s the headline: Cardinal Walter Kasper had a Todd Akin moment on Tuesday when he said that it would be inappropriate for the global church to listen to African bishops on questions relating to the family and sexual morality.
“I am shocked,” Kasper said when asked about his comments later. “I have never spoken like this about Africans, and I would never do so.” But he did. The interviewer, Edward Pentin, has the audio.
Following that embarrassment, Pope Francis added Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa to the committee that will draft the synod’s concluding report, which will be discussed and voted on tomorrow. The committee until now included no Africans. Napier is among the chorus of synod fathers who say that the interim report released on Monday bore little relation to the discussion that had taken place in the synod hall.
Even non-Catholics want the Church to affirm their views on sex, marriage, and the family. Social liberals cheered the more sensational passages in Monday’s report. Non-Catholic social conservatives, meanwhile, are apprehensive. “Many Orthodox Jews, Muslims and Evangelicals look to the Catholic Church for support for traditional family values,” explains Father Peter Stravinskas, the editor of The Catholic Response. “Not a few of my acquaintances in those communities feel let down by what looks like the abandonment of the fight.” As of this morning, the fight appears to be on again.