VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic bishops are entering the final week of debate over hot-button issues facing young Catholics, including how the church should welcome gays and respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal that has discredited many in the church hierarchy.
The monthlong synod of bishops ends next Saturday with the adoption by the 260-plus cardinals, bishops and priests of a final document and approval of a separate, shorter letter to the world's Catholic youth.
Some youth delegates at the meeting have insisted the final document express an inclusive message to make LGBT Catholics feel welcome in a church that has often shunned them. But some bishops have balked, including Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who says "There is no such thing as an 'LGBTQ Catholic' or a 'transgender Catholic or a 'heterosexual Catholic.'"
