Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 09:00 am
As the church prepares for the 2015 Synod on the Family, one of the newly-named advisers to the synod of bishops' general secretariat is a scholar from the John Paul II Institute on marriage and the family – representatives of which were notably absent during last year's gathering on the same subject.
Vice-president and professor of sacramental theology at the JPII Institute, Fr. José Granados, was listed in a Mar. 14 Vatican statement as one the advisers – known as "consultors" -- tasked with advising the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.
Representatives from the pontifical institute were absent from the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization," noteworthy for the fact that marriage and the family are at the core of its study.
JPII institute scholars have openly opposed proposals made by some to grant reception of Holy Communion to divorced persons who have remarried without obtaining an annulment, a topic which received much media attention during the 2014 Synod.