Pope backs reform as Church begins review on family, marriage
Pope Francis on Sunday issued a strong signal of support for reform of the Catholic Church's approach to marriage, cohabitation and divorce as bishops began a landmark review of teaching on the family.
Opening an extraordinary synod of nearly 200 senior clerics, Francis suggested the Church must address the present gulf between what it currently says on these issues and what tens of millions of believers actually do.
Thorny theological questions such as whether divorced and remarried believers should be able to receive communion will dominate two weeks of closed-door discussions set to pit conservative clerics against reformists led by German cardinal Walter Kasper....