Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the panel’s chairman, said the meetings, will be private and details will not be released, the Associated Press reported.
The archbishop of Washington, D.C., said that his panel might have new political guidelines ready for the U.S. bishops’ next meeting in June.
The recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, held in Rome, recommended in one of its propositions to the Pope: «Catholic politicians and lawmakers must feel especially questioned in their conscience, properly formed, about the grave social responsibility of introducing and supporting iniquitous laws.»
«There is no Eucharistic coherence when laws are promoted that go against man’s integral good, against justice and the natural law,» Proposition No. 46 said. «Private and public choice cannot be separated, placing oneself in contradiction with the law of God and the teaching of the Church, and this must also be considered in regard to the Eucharistic reality. …
«In applying this guideline, Bishops must exercise the virtues of fortitude and prudence, taking into account the concrete local situations.»
