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Speaking to the Mexican news agency Notimex, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez of Guadalajara (Mexico) and Archbishop Alberto Taviera Correa of Palmas (Brazil) expressed their disappointment that the final Aparecida document has been leaked to the press before publication.
The Missionary Indigenous Council, which is an entity linked to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (NCBB), was responsible for leaking the document to the press. The group has since removed the document from its website.
Cardinal Sandoval told Notimex, “The bishops who participated have approved the document by the assembly. Anything else that has come out is illegitimate.” “I think that those who leaked the document were afraid the Holy See would make significant changes or would shorten it. But at the Vatican I was told no significant changes would be made,” the cardinal said.
Archbishop Taveira, who also participated in CELAM’s 5th General Conference in Aparecida, said those who leaked the document brought harm to ecclesial unity.
“I don’t know what reasons they had to leak the document,” he said, “but the prudent measure is for the Pope to first grant approval and then to publish.”
“I’m sorry they did not follow the established norms. That attitude harms communion, because they used reasons that are not ecclesial,” the archbishop said, adding that the matter would have to be discussed during the next meeting of the executive committee of the NCBB.
