By LOUISE KIRK
(Editor’s Note: In an interview with The Wanderer, Cardinal Urosa Savino affirmed that the Church has always shown mercy in her constant teaching which cannot be broken. The interview took place on Thursday, October 22, in Rome, before the release of the final Synod document and before the Synod on the Family concluded.
(His Eminence Jorge Cardinal Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas and honorary president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, was born in 1942 and was ordained priest in 1967. He studied first in Caracas, then went to Toronto to read theology, and to Rome, where he obtained his Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1971.
(For many years he was professor and rector of San José Seminary in Caracas, and later also rector of the Interdiocesan Seminary there.
(Cardinal Urosa was appointed auxiliary bishop of Caracas in 1982, archbishop of Valencia in 1990, and archbishop of Caracas in 2005. In 2006, Benedict XVI created him cardinal.
(We thank His Eminence for granting the interview to The Wanderer.)
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Q. Your Eminence, your excellent and very clear intervention at the Synod underlined the unbroken teaching of the Church on marriage with specific numbered references to the Gospel and Church teaching. Do you think you were able to make an impact on the way some of the Synod fathers were thinking?
A. The majority will already have made up their own minds. They are good men, men of God, of the Church, of the world. They have been thinking about the subjects raised by the Synod for a long time.
What I wanted to stress was the importance of the truths that we learn from Our Lord Jesus Christ on marriage, divorce, and adultery that the Church has taught through the centuries.
In particular, I wanted to draw the Synod’s attention to the teachings of St. John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio, and also in other documents that appeared after that. I wanted to point out that we have to take these things into account. We can’t change the teachings. We have to apply them. We have already learnt what it is to show mercy and we can’t forget this.
In our pastoral work, we come across people who have “el dolor del fracaso,” the deep pain of failure, and want to remake their lives. We need to help them to approach holiness, mercy, understanding. But in order to receive Holy Communion they have to be already in union with Our Lord and live a life of grace.
At issue is not only marriage but also the Eucharist. You have to live a life of grace. The Eucharist is the sacrament of the living, of those who are already united with the Lord.
I hope that my speech will have had some effect on the Synod fathers.
Q. A lot of attention appears to have been focused on the weak during the Synod discussions. Was there also consideration of those who are “strong,” but also have their own needs?
A. In the Synod, there was a lot of praise and encouragement for those who are leading good family lives. They are keeping alive the Lord’s work, happy in their marriages, keeping going.
But they have to struggle a lot to do that, to struggle in their daily lives. They need to place their hearts in the Lord and be aware of the greatness of their mission in the world and in the Church.
Nothing is more important for a human being than belonging to a good family. This does not mean that any of us are perfect. Our Lord did not come to heal the healthy but the sick, and we all have need of Him.
Q. What about those who are promoting good family and sexual values, such as teachers and doctors, sometimes in a difficult climate? Was there much support for them?
A. There was a strong stand made in the Synod for the rights of the family, and of teachers and of Catholic doctors, to help them keep the law of God according to their conscience. We stressed the importance of freedom of religion, and the rights of families to defend their choices.
Q. Was much made of the teaching of Humanae Vitae and how it might be implemented?
A. We considered the whole teaching of the Church on sexuality, and especially that of Paul VI in Humanae Vitae.
Humanae Vitae plays a big part in the teaching of marriage and married life. It needs to be given greater emphasis. It is a means to live happy married life whereby love, marriage, children, life, and family belong together. These things always go together.
Q. The Church’s public voice on the importance of Humanae Vitae is one, very important, thing, but families also need practical support to live it. I am thinking, for instance, of networks of natural planning teachers.
A. We were concentrating more at the Synod on the importance of living according to the Church’s teaching. This is general for everybody.
Increasing the support for families specifically in this area is obviously part of this. We need a big voice, and we also need to put money there and give practical help.
Q. What about related issues, such as unnatural treatments for infertility, like IVF?
A. We only had a short time together to discuss many things, not a full year studying the whole of family life, or creating a treatise on the subject. There were many issues to cover, and there are many more still to be pursued which can be followed up locally. IVF and other such issues would be part of that.
Q. What do you think you may have gained personally from attending the Synod?
A. There was a lot of practical support for pastoral work. It was an updating course, making us remember what we already know and do. It also pointed out new things. We learnt a lot from each other.
Q. A lot of emphasis has been put on making the Church’s language more accessible. Do you have any comment on this?
A. It is very important that the Church uses language that is understood by the world and our contemporaries. We are all aware of this and are trying to do it.
There is a difference between this and softening language so that it doesn’t call things by their name, such as forgetting the need for repentance, or rejecting the idea of sin. Evil is present in the world and we need to fight that.
We need to call people to be good. We cannot go down the path of religious indifference. We need to tell people that wars are wrong, that abortion is wrong. They need to repent and believe in the way of Jesus Christ. But we can put this in a kind way, using the right words, never forgetting that the Lord has told us to overcome evil by good. Appropriate language is important.
Q. So there was consensus on the need to reconsider language?
A. Most would have agreed. Some people will always like to stress the positive and forget what it is difficult to say. Jesus Christ’s language is uplifting but sometimes very tough. He tells us to change and convert.
Q. Were there any ways in which you were disappointed with the Synod proceedings?
A. I didn’t like some of the opinions expressed. But generally I was very happy with how the proceedings flowed.
Q. And the Instrumentum Laboris?
A. Perhaps we should have started with that! Let us say that it fell short of my expectations. It was written in a rush by many different people. The difficulties with the document were pointed out by many of the Synod fathers. We worked to change it and this has been done.
Q. Was there as much focus on access to the Sacrament of Confession as there was on the Holy Eucharist?
A. The Sacrament of Confession is necessary for the life of the Church. This is well known and what we are trying to foster, but this was not the place to give it much focus.
Q. There are many problems faced in Venezuela today. What may be the particular problems that you face in your home country in promoting family life?
A. Venezuela has been run as a secular state for a long time, bringing many problems with it. This includes weakness among many families.
We are doing our best in the Diocese of Caracas to counter this, especially through our Catholic schools, and the work of people like Christine Vollmer and her program Aprendiendo a Querer. We are beginning to see useful fruit through our efforts in strengthening family life.
What I have heard about sex education in Europe amazes me. Sex can never be considered by itself. It has to be integrated with the person, with the reality of giving oneself to another.
The idolatry of sex is a terrible thing. As I said before, sex always belongs with love, marriage, life, children, and family.
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