Setback for Pope reform

Vatican City: Roman Catholic bishops on Saturday failed to reach a consensus on opening the Church's doors to remarried divorcees and gays after a special synod on the family, in a blow to Pope Francis.Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said participants had approved a “re-balanced” final report that took into account the concerns of the most conservative members.

In a final vote after two weeks of fierce debate, three paragraphs touching on the hot-button issues of a more welcome stance towards gays, and allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion, did not get the two-thirds majority needed.

The vote closed a synod of bishops from around the world which has seen conservatives clash publicly with liberals over a drive spearheaded by the pope to soften the Church's approach to sinners.

Earlier, the cardinals approved a message to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics stressing the value of “unique and indissoluble conjugal love” but without touching directly on non-traditional unions.

Addressing the synod, the pontiff said he was confident the coming year would allow for ideas to mature and “find concrete solutions” to the many challenges facing the Church.

The Pope had earlier called for the Church to take a more merciful approach to unmarried mothers, remarried divorcees and gays, famously saying of homosexuals, “Who am I to judge?Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn told reporters that the adopted text was “much more reserved” than the draft document, reflecting opposition from bishops from “very different cultural situations”.

In the media glare, the synod took on the proportions of a referendum on the Pope’s line, and observers said the early reports may have backfired on progressives.