By Felipe Salvosa II | CBCP News
October 19, 2023
Pope Francis and members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, Oct. 9, 2023. VATICAN MEDIA
ROME— The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) offered a “Filipino and Asian perspective” on how the Church could move forward in its outreach toward people with same-sex attraction, a key issue in the ongoing Synod of Bishops in the Vatican.
In a press briefing with other synod delegates on Wednesday (Oct. 18, 2023), Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, CBCP president, contrasted the Asian perspective of looking at all persons as human beings, with the tendency of societies in the northern hemisphere to resort to various labels.
The panel, which included Cardinal Leonardo Steiner of Manaus, Brazil and Archbishop Zbigņev Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia, was asked about proposals to allow blessings to same-sex couples, the possibility of which was opened by Pope Francis in a recent response to a request for clarification or “dubia” by a group of cardinals.