{"id":297233,"date":"2025-05-04T09:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T09:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/francis-opened-discussions-to-those-outside-the-church-hierarchy-this-cardinal-would-too\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T09:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T09:07:12","slug":"francis-opened-discussions-to-those-outside-the-church-hierarchy-this-cardinal-would-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/francis-opened-discussions-to-those-outside-the-church-hierarchy-this-cardinal-would-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Opened Discussions to Those Outside the Church Hierarchy. This Cardinal Would, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Francis<\/div>


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Only about half a million people live in Malta, the tiny set of islands in the Mediterranean that make up one of Europe\u2019s smallest countries.<\/p>\n

Yet a Maltese citizen could soon be elected pope.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Mario Grech<\/a>, 68, the former bishop of a Maltese island, Gozo, has emerged as a candidate for pope because of his role as secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body mandated by canon law<\/a> to consider \u201cquestions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis upended the synod\u2019s role by promoting a Synod on Synodality<\/a>, a multiyear meeting for church leaders and lay people, including women, on how to work together. Francis saw that process as critical, explaining it as \u201cjourneying together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Grech\u2019s role in stewarding these efforts to open up the church stand in contrast to some of his own history. While he was bishop of Gozo, from 2005 to 2020, he held conservative stances on several issues, including homosexuality and the legalization of divorce, which he opposed when Malta held a referendum in 2011.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n