Rebel cardinals accuse pope of stacking synod cards

By News on the Net —— Bio and Archives October 12, 2015

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Conservative cardinals have accused Pope Francis of stacking the cards against them in an ongoing battle over issues including the Church's approach to gays and to divorced and remarried believers, it emerged Monday.

In a letter sent to the pontiff on October 5, the opening day of a Church synod on the family, a group of cardinals described procedures for three weeks of discussions as "designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions." The ostensibly private (but quickly leaked) letter was delivered to the pope by Australian Cardinal George Pell and reportedly signed by peers including the archbishops of Toronto and New York, Thomas Collins and Timothy Dolan, and arch-Vatican conservative Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop of Bologna. More...