By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY — Conservative Catholic bishops are distancing themselves from a document showing an unprecedented opening toward gays and divorced people, saying it doesn’t reflect their views and vowing to make changes to the final version.
The provisional document produced at the halfway point of a two-week meeting on family life said gays had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided gay couples with “precious” support. It said the church must welcome divorced people and recognize the “positive” aspects of civil marriages and even Catholics who cohabit.
Amid an outcry from conservatives, organizers of the synod insisted Tuesday that the document was merely a working paper that would be amended.
