News and Media Releases

"Segui Papa Francesco sulla via del dialogo e delle riforme"

L’attenzione a tutte le questioni che riguardano la famiglia e la morale sessuale sono state parte importante, delle riflessioni delle nostre organizzazioni e dei nostri movimenti per molti anni. Ci siamo ispirati al rinnovamento portato nella Chiesa dal Concilio, che riteniamo essere ora ripreso dal nuovo corso di papa Francesco.

Abbiamo dall’inizio fatto presente la distanza che si stava sempre di più ampliando tra il sentire comune di una gran parte del Popolo di Dio e le indicazioni dottrinali e pastorali del Magistero. Abbiamo fatto analisi, indicato percorsi per il cambiamento.

I due Sinodi indetti dal papa ci fanno sperare che sia giunto il momento per una nuova fedeltà all’Evangelo e perché il “sabato”, con le sue prescrizioni che Gesù condannava, non sia di ostacolo alla fede sincera di chi vuole praticare le virtù cristiane nella vita famigliare.

Abbiamo risposto ai due questionari proposti dalla segreteria del Sinodo e partecipato a tanti momenti di dialogo in questi mesi. Cerchiamo ora di riassumere quanto, insieme, proponiamo ai padri sinodali, quanto ci attendiamo sulle questioni principali in discussione.

„Folgt Papst Franziskus auf dem Weg des Dialogs und der Reform!“

Seit vielen Jahren haben die Themen Familie und Sexualethik einen hohen Stellenwert in unseren Organisationen und Bewegungen. Die Erneuerungen, die vom Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil angestoßen wurden, haben uns dazu inspiriert. Wir glauben, dass Papst Franziskus diesen Kurs klar und deutlich wieder aufgegriffen hat. 

Wir sind in großer Sorge über die ständig wachsende Diskrepanz zwischen Glaube und Gewissen bei der großen Mehrheit der Mitglieder der römisch-katholischen Kirche einerseits und in der Doktrin und der pastoralen Praxis des kirchlichen Lehramts andererseits.

Die Einberufung der zwei Synoden durch Papst Franziskus macht Hoffnung, dass nun die Zeit reif ist für eine stärkere Rückbindung der kirchlichen Lehre an das Evangelium. So könnte die Lehrverkündigung nicht länger ein Hindernis für jene Gläubigen darstellen, die ihr Familienleben hier und heute an der Botschaft Jesu orientieren möchten.

Wir haben uns am Dialog beteiligt, der durch die beiden Umfragen des Synodensekretariats in vielfältiger Weise in Gang gesetzt wurde. Im Folgenden übermitteln wir Ihnen, die Sie an der Synode teilnehmen, das Ergebnis unserer Überlegungen und die Vorschläge, welche die Hauptthemen betreffen, die unserer Meinung nach angesprochen und reformiert werden sollten.

The 14th general assembly of the Synod of Bishops opens in Rome Oct. 4. It will bring together some 300 cardinals and bishops, along with a few dozen lay and religious advisers and consultors to discuss pressing issues around family life.

The synod -- its official theme is "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World" -- runs until Oct. 25 and is the culmination of more than two years of preparation that included among the widest consultations the Vatican has ever undertaken.

Read More

A guide to the new Encyclical

The Encyclical on Vatican website - - PDF version

„Unleugbare Realitätsbeschreibung, Hoffnungsdokument und Handlungsaufforderung zugleich“

The cult of the saints and the procedures used , in their preparation are often ambiguous.

This form of religiosity - the veneration of the saints-was and remains  widespread for centuries in the Catholic world.

While respecting the religious feelings of the catholic faithful we believe that the cult of the saints must have its foundation in the Gospel .

‘We Are Church’  has taken  a critical approach  to this cult especially in recent years as the majority of Saints proclaimed in recent years came from members of religious orders and especially from their  founders . Preference was always given to members of the religious conservatives within our church.

 A further cause of our concern  is the continued   canonization of recent popes which seems to be a political process used by the Vatican to further enhance the prestige and power of the Papacy

However , this does not mean that  we should not honour  Christian people of extraordinary witness to the Gospel

Such a person is the assassinated Archbishop of San Salvador , Monsenor Oscar Romero.

Our joy for San Romero

. We will  rejoice on May 23 by participating in spirit and in prayer in the great demonstrations of joy of the people of El Salvador

Mons.  Romero was honored by his people shortly after his murder. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage and  : he soon became "Saint Romero of the Americas" and "San Romero of the world"’

. Romero has been considered a saint in the real sense throughout the Catholic world.

However  after 35 years of being ignored by the Official Church it remained for Pope Francis coming from a Latin American background to finally acknowledge the martyrdom of Monsenor Romero.

Over thirty five years powerful forces, both within the Vatican and El Salvador,  had successfully thwarted  any official recognition of Monsenor Romero eventhough other Christian communions h ad already done so.

The Anglican Church has placed his effigy among the great prophets of our age at Westminster Abbey , London

.Msgr. Romero is the planetary symbol of a faith committed to the defense of the oppressed and being a voice of the voiceless. 

Romero represents   all the Latin American martyrs of the past half century, consisting of thousands of nuns, peasant leaders, community leaders, priests and bishops killed by regimes that claimed to be Catholics.

Msgr. Romero showed us a different way of being Church:. He amalgamated  the traditional and popular religiosity of his people with the defense of the oppressed, and resistance to violence and oppression.

Shortly after being appointed as Archbishop of san Salvador the death of his friend  the Jesuit Rutilio Grande and his friends Romero confronted the Government of El Salvador by refusing to attend the inauguration of its President and by having only one mass in San Salvador the following week at which he denounced the murder of Fr. Grande and  the growing murder of many catechists

For the next three years Romero stood up for the rights of his people against a growing repression by the Salvadoran Army and its death squads funded by the Government of the United States.

Thus Monsenor Romero was not just  a reader of Liberation Theology but practiced its values in his life.

Romero was a sign of contradiction and must remain so

"We Are Church" participate with joy and in the spirit of faith at this important moment for our Church, and for all the Churches.:

-It is important to realize that  Romero was not assassinated by atheists or adherents of another religion .

His death  is an example of martyrdom "in odium fidei" ( hatred of the faith )as he was murdered by other Catholics who went to Mass, and who considered themselves the true believers of the Gospel and who wanted to defend God and catholic "values".

Romero has to remain in the Church and in society  primarily as a faithful follower of Jesus of Nazareth who denounced the injustices of his time openly and fiercely.

Romero followed his Jesus faithfully a nd like him denounced the injustices as he found them and demanded justice for his people .

Like Jesus Romero too ended his life murdered for the sake of truth and justice.

These are the values that Romero stood for and so he remains as a witness to the Gospel and an inspiration for this generation of Christians and indeed for all future followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

Rome, May 2015

International Movement We Are Church (IMWAC)

Iglesia Descalza: Jon Sobrino: "We don't want them to beatify a 'watered down' Romero"