Synod’s Final Document Drafting Committee Packed With Leftists

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VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - As the Amazon Synod neared its midpoint on Tuesday, the Vatican revealed that the drafting committee for its final document is being assembled, with confirmed members leaning decidedly to the left.

Over the next week and a half, the committee will compile the recommendations of various small groups into a final document, which will then be voted on by synod fathers on Oct. 26.

If the document passes with a two-thirds majority, it will be forwarded to Pope Francis for use in compiling a new apostolic exhortation on the Amazon.

Among those personally picked by Pope Francis are Cdl. Christoph Schönborn of Vienna and Bp. Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Schönborn has made headlines in recent years as an advocate of women's ordination and an enthusiast of active gay unions.

On Sept. 29, 2018, the cardinal gave an address at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, during which he recounted his recent ordination of 14 men to the diaconate. During his recollection, he called for the ordination of female deacons.

Later that day, Schönborn took to Twitter to double down on his advocacy.

"I was only recently able to consecrate deacons again," he wrote. "A great joy. Perhaps I will one day be able to consecrate women to the diaconate."

The cardinal has also praised "stable unions" of homosexuals, saying "they share their joys and sufferings, they help one another. It must be recognized that this person took an important step for his own good and the good of others."

He has also sparked controversy by reinstating an active homosexual to a parish council after the priest removed him for causing scandal.

Like Schönborn, Bp. Sorondo is a leading promoter of leftist ideals. As head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he has scandalized faithful Catholics by cavorting with and seeking counsel from leading proponents of abortion and population control.

In November 2017, Sorondo hosted a Vatican conference on the environment. Titled "Health of People, Health of Planet and our Responsibility: Climate Change, Air Pollution and Health," the forum featured a host of academic and political leaders who actively oppose Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life.

Guests included Sir Partha Dasgupta, patron of population reduction advocacy group Population Matters; evolutionary biologist Peter Raven, who falsely asserts that the post-Vatican II Church supports curbing population growth; Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs, an abortion activist who promotes the killing the unborn as the most efficient means of reducing population; and global warming activist and atheist John Schellnhuber, a leading globalist who has called for an "Earth Constitution," a "Global Council" and a "Planetary Court."

Delivering the keynote address was then-California Gov. Jerry Brown, who, during his time in office, oversaw the state's legalization of assisted suicide as well as its criminalization of "misgendering" and reparative therapy for minors struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction.

In February 2018, Sorondo outraged faithful Catholics by claiming that of all nations, China — governed by Communists since 1949 — best exemplifies the social doctrines of the Church.

Sorondo is widely acknowledged as the guiding hand behind Laudato Si', Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on climate change — an Amazon Synod springboard.

Other members of the drafting committee are causing concern among traditional Catholic circles. These include Bp. Mario Grech of Gozo, Malta; Cdl. Lorenzo Baldisseri; and Cdl. Cláudio Hummes.

In January 2017, Grech threatened to strip Maltese priests of their faculties if they refused to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.

In March 2018, he went a step further, declaring that same-sex couples are welcome to the Eucharist in his diocese. He also praised gay unions "with satisfaction," arguing homosexual couples "have the right not to be judged."

Cardinal Baldisseri, the synod's secretary general, has long worked hand-in-glove with the Vatican's homosexual network. He used his position as lead organizer of the 2014 and 2015 Synods on the Family to push Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried, as well as liberalization of Church teaching on homosexuality.

During the 2015 gathering, Baldisseri personally intervened to block Cdl. Raymond Burke and other faithful cardinals from distributing Remaining in the Truth of Christ, a book reiterating Church teaching on marriage on the grounds that they would "interfere with the synod."

Baldisseri was also responsible for inserting the term "LGBT" into the working document for the 2018 Youth Synod — an unprecedented concession to the pro-gay movement.

He also approved publication of the document, which suggested that Church teaching on contraception, abortion and homosexuality are up for debate and sought to legitimize young Catholics who choose to live homosexual lifestyles while still wanting "to be close to the Church."

Cardinal Hummes has been pushing the idea of married priests as a solution to the shortage of clerics in the Amazon region since 2014.

He is president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), the liberation theology-inspired Latin American cabal responsible for the Amazon Synod. As the synod's relator general, he helped oversee the controversial Oct. 4 tree-planting ceremony in the Vatican Gardens, which featured an idol of the pagan goddess Pachamama.

In June, the Amazon Synod fathers released their Instrumentum Laboris, or working document. Months of denunciations by a raft of faithful bishops followed.

On Oct. 3, Hummes sought to downplay criticism, telling reporters that the document is not "Magisterial" — that it is "not by the synod; it is for the synod." His assurances did little to quell worries among faithful Catholics.

Two weeks later, the revealing of the drafting committee's leftist bent is sparking still greater concern.

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