Just as strong an advocate of heterodox views as Gregory is Archbishop Mario Grech. He hinted that doctrine evolves when he
said to the Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2014 that “the doctrine of the faith is capable of progressively acquiring a greater depth” in reference to divorce and so-called second unions as well as homosexuality. He lamented in his address that such people “feel wounded” by the language of the Church that currently calls adultery and homosexual acts sinful.
Grech co-authored with Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta the notorious Maltese bishops’ pastoral guidelines on Amoris Laetitia, which gave access to Holy Communion to divorced and civilly “remarried” Catholics, living in sin, who “with an informed and enlightened conscience ... acknowledge and believe that he or she are at peace with God.” These guidelines were republished by the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
In 2017, Grech “attacked a group of Maltese faithful Catholics” after it defended “real marriage against ‘unnatural’ homosexual ‘marriage’” in a full-page ad in a widely read paper. The bishop called the ad “propaganda.” He has also accused opponents of these guidelines of having “attitudes” that “annihilate all hope in people,” calling them “prophets of doom.”
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
The following is the full list of cardinals-elect who will be eligible to vote in the next conclave:
- Archbishop Mario Grech, 63, Maltese, Vatican-based Secretary of the Synod of Bishops
- Archbishop Marcello Semeraro,73, Italian, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints
- Antoine Kambanda, Rwandan, 61, Archbishop of Kigali
- Wilton D. Gregory, American, 72, Archbishop of Washington D.C.
- Jose F. Advincula, 68, Filipino, Archbishop of Capiz.
- Celestino Aos Braco, 75, Spanish, archbishop of Santiago, Chile
- Archbishop Cornelius Sim, 69, Brunei, apostolic vicar of Brunei
- Augusto Paolo Lojudice, 56, Italian, archbishop of Siena, Italy
- Father Mauro Gambetti, 54, Italian, custodian of the Franciscan convent of St. Francis in Assisi
Those who will be ineligible to vote in the next conclave are:
- Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap
- Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi (“was the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva until 13 February 2016”)
- Rev. Enrico Feroci (former director of the Rome Catholic charity, Caritas)
- Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel (Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas)