Catholic Leaders Release Appeal Calling for Action on Climate Change

The text refers to conscience in sections dealing with procreation and with marital situations the church considers irregular, particularly the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

And highlighting the fact that every person has the right to a dignified life and a dignified job with access to education and health care, he told those present that they have the responsibility of building bridges with the rest of society in the name of a "peaceful co-habitation" in which different cultures and traditions can safeguard their values with an attitude of openness, with dialogue and integration. Not only are many of them "dedicated to their family of origin, but they often are of great service to their circle of friends, the church community and through their professional lives", the final report said.

Francis made that clear in what was viewed as a landmark talk during the synod to mark 50 years since these meetings were begun after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

Among other things, he said: "It was about laying bare the closed hearts, which frequently hide even behind the Church's teaching or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, hard cases and wounded families". "The more spouses try to listen to God and his commandments in their consciences, the freer their decision will be" from external pressures, the report said.

The prelates cite the statement by Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si', that climate change "represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity today".

The appeal, Cardinal Gracias said, was a response to Pope Francis' letter on the environment and an expression of "the anxiety of all the people, all the churches all over the world" regarding how, "unless we are careful and prudent, we are heading for disaster". But he framed all those differences as an opportunity for learning.

And speaking of future Pope Francis said "children are your most precious treasure" and he pointed out that education is at the base of the healthy development of the person.

In other words, Americans may need to rethink which Synod of Bishops in October 2015 is the real wake-up call.

The pro-Roma group Associazione 21 Luglio said it hoped the audience with the pope would "be the necessary stimulus to get Rome's authorities to stop once and for all with their policy of exclusion and discrimination against Roma".

The gathering, he said, was a time "to witness to all that the Gospel remains for the church the living source of eternal newness against those who want to "indoctrinate" it into dead stones to hurl at each other".

On Saturday evening, as he brought this latest synod assembly's work to a close, the pope told the bishops and observers what he believed the exercise had been about. He was elected to the synod by the men's Union of Superiors General as one of their 10 voting delegates.

"He was quite excited", she said. However, the document strongly rejects gay marriage and "gender theory", but omits references to church teaching that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered".