Det er nå kjent at det pavelige dokumentet, kalt Amoris Lætitia, som oppsummerer de to bispesynodene om familien skal offentliggjøres 8. april, og John Allen skriver at kardinal Schönborn skal presentere dokumentet. Han skriver om dette bl.a.:
In a move possibly hinting that Pope Francis will side with progressives on some contentious matters regarding family life, the Vatican announced Thursday that a keenly anticipated document from the pontiff will be released April 8 and presented by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria. …
… During the two synods, Schönborn was seen as a leading exponent of the moderate-to-progressive position on those issues.
He was part of a German-language group, for instance, which proposed an “internal forum” solution to the question about Communion for those Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church.
The “internal forum” refers to private exchanges between believers and priests or bishops, generally in the context of the sacrament of confession. Although canon lawyers debate whether, and how, it could be applied to the divorced and remarried, advocates of allowing them to return to Communion generally see it as way to accomplish that on a private, case-by-case basis.
During an Oct. 26 press conference last year, Schönborn, whose own parents were divorced when he was a teenager, told reporters he felt that the synod could not recommend a clear yes or no to Communion for the divorced and remarried.
“There is no black and white, a simple yes or no,” he said, arguing that situations vary widely and so too must the Church’s response. …
Men Allen legger også til – og jeg har alltid husket at Schönborn var sekretæren som sammen med Ratzinger (og en komité) skrev Den katolske kirkes katekisme i 1992:
… It may also reflect a degree of political savvy, since despite his progressive-seeming stances on the key synod debates, Schönborn nevertheless also has solid conservative credentials.
He’s an intellectual protégé of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, for instance, and was also the general editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church under St. John Paul II.
A member of the Dominican religious order, the 71-year-old Schönborn is widely regarded as one of the most intellectually impressive members of the College of Cardinals, and was mentioned as a possible candidate to be pope himself in both the conclaves of 2005 and 2013.