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Washington D.C., Apr 16, 2016 / 04:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The problem of sex-selective abortion is not limited to China and India, but is increasing in communities within Western countries, a new report by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute says.

“I think for a long time we’ve been denying that sex-selective abortion happens in the United States,” said Anna Higgins, J.D., associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

However, she told CNA, “it does happen here.”

Countries like China, with its miserable human rights record, are notorious for sex-selective abortions because of the country’s long-time forced one-child family policy, now a two-child policy. Human rights activists have termed the situation “gendercide” because so many families choose only to have a boy to carry on the family name.

The practice has led to demographic disaster, with 33 million more men than women in the country, according to human rights activists.

Yet sex-selective abortion happens not just in China and India, but within Western countries as well, Higgins argues. In certain immigrant communities in the U.S. – including some Indian-American, Korean-American, and Chinese-American communities – the ratio of baby boys to baby girls can actually be much higher than China’s.

The normal ratio for boys to girls is 103 to 106 per 100, Higgins noted. The ratio is so consistent, she added, that “any kind of skewed sex ratio at birth cannot be explained away by natural variations.” If the ratio is any higher than this, sex-selection is probably the culprit. In China 116 boys are born for every 100 girls.

Areas like the Caucasus region at the border of Europe and Asia are experiencing similar demographic disparities. “There are 160 million missing girls across the globe because of sex-selective abortion, Higgins said. “It’s affecting the human society in general.”

And Western nations are not immune to this, she insisted, saying there is “a spike of sex ratio imbalance” in certain communities within these countries.

The overall demographics don’t reveal a national phenomenon of sex-selective abortion, Higgins maintained, but recent studies show that for third children in families – particularly in immigrant families with two daughters – the ratio spikes in favor of males. Any ratio above 106 boys to 100 girls is evidence of sex-selection, she suggested.

A recent Canadian study Higgins cited found that from 1990 through 2011, for Indian-born mothers, their “third birth” ratio was 138 boys to 100 girls. The “fourth birth” was 166 to 100.

In Ontario, among Indian-born mothers who had two daughters, the ratio for a third child was 196 boys to 100 girls. If a woman had two daughters and then had an abortion, the ratio for her third child was 326 boys to 100 girls. If she had multiple abortions, the ratio jumped again to 409 boys per 100 girls.

Sex-selective abortion is “lethal discrimination, sex discrimination against girls,” Higgins said. “Sex discrimination in any form is inherently unjust.”

New technology is also helping parents determine the sex of their child at an early stage of pregnancy – giving them more power to abort their child if they prefer the other sex.

One method is a “pre-implantation diagnosis” of the sex of the embryo with in vitro fertilization, Higgins said. Another is prenatal genetic testing as early as 7 to 10 weeks gestation. These tests being sold as a tool to help with “family balancing,” she commented, but this “amounts to saying we place value on someone because of their sex.”

This technology is currently allowed under U.S. law, which undermines the “moral authority” the U.S. can use to stop sex-selective abortion, advocates say.

“Currently, there is no prohibition on such technology for the purpose of sex selection in the United States,” Higgins said. “Such technology can easily be used to discriminate against either sex, which is no less ethically problematic.”

“With our national laws among the most permissive on the planet and sex-selection being legal up to birth in the vast majority of states, the U.S. lacks moral authority to oppose this and ultimately end this practice everywhere,” Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, said.

Other countries have already started cracking down on the practice. As of 2009, Vietnam, South Korea, Austria, New Zealand, and Switzerland all prohibited sex-selection while 31 countries outlawed its “social” use.

“Although not every country prohibits sex-selective abortion specifically, there is obviously a global awareness that prenatal sex-selection is unethical based on the sheer number of countries that prohibit preimplantation sex-selection techniques,” Higgins said of the numbers.

“The United States is, in fact, lagging behind the rest of the world on this front.”

Higgins, along with the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, is pushing for the House to pass the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act which would prohibit sex-selective abortions, along with the solicitation of funds for these abortions or any “coercion” of woman to obtain an abortion on basis of sex, which happens in some communities, Higgins said.

Ultimately, the goal is to “inform the public that this is a discriminatory practice and we’re not going to stand for it,” she said, adding that discrimination is prohibited in employment and public accommodation, and birth should be no exception.


Photo credit: Ida Karolina Rosanda via www.shutterstock.com.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis gave a 30 minute press conference on the flight back from Lesbos to Rome on Saturday, sharing thoughts on a wide range of subjects including his opinion regarding the deal between the EU and Turkey, his meeting with Bernie Sanders, the closure of European borders and his recent apostolic exhortation.

The Pope began his traditional ‘conversation’ with journalists aboard the papal plane reflecting on the fact that the visit to Lesbos had had a very strong emotional impact on him.

Asked what he thinks about the recent deal between Brussels and Ankara, the Pope highlighted the fact that his visit to Lesbos was undertaken in a purely humanitarian spirit.

Regarding the fact that he has brought three refugee families back to Rome with him, he said the decision was the fruit of a ‘last-minute’ inspiration one of his collaborators had a week ago. 

“Everything was arranged according to the rules. They have their documents. The Holy See, the Greek government and the Italian government have checked everything. They have been welcomed by the Vatican and with the collaboration of the Saint Egidio community they will be searching for work” he said.

Asked about a reported meeting on Saturday morning in the Vatican with the American presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Pope Francis acknowledged it had taken place but specified that it had been a purely ‘polite’ encounter.

“This morning when I was leaving Senator Sanders was there. He had come to participate in the ‘Centesimus Annus’ Conference and greeted me politely together with his wife (…) It is called ‘manners’ and has nothing to do with politics” he said.

Another journalist asked why the three families of refugees chosen to be brought back to the Vatican are all Muslim. The Pope said the choice was not between Christians and Muslims and that those who were selected all had their papers in order.

One journalist asked the Pope whether he thinks that the closing of European borders marks the end of a European dream. Francis said that whilst he understands there are some governments and peoples who are afraid, he said he believes we have the responsibility of welcome.

“I have always said that building walls is not a solution. We saw walls during the last century and they did not resolve anything. We must build bridges. Bridges are built with intelligence, with dialogue, with integration” he said.

The Pope expressed his belief that Europe must urgently implement policies that welcome people, integrate them with work, create policies that foresee growth and a push forward a reform of the economy.

“All these things – he said – are bridges”, and he highlighted the suffering and pain witnessed during his visit to the camp in Lesbos.

The children there, he said, had given him drawings (which he showed those present) in which they asked for peace and expressed their pain and fear after having seen terrible things like other children drowning.   

Asked whether Europe can open its arms to all the misery in the world the Pope reflected on the many faces of human suffering. He mentioned war and hunger, both of these - he said - an effect of the exploitation of the planet. He spoke of deforestation and of trafficking and of how fighting factions in Syria have been armed by others.

“I would invite the producers of arms to spend a day in the camp (in Lesbos): I believe that would be good” he said.

Turning to the Pope’s recently released Apostolic Exhortation on the family, one journalist asked for clarification saying there are discussions going on between those who maintain that nothing has changed when it comes to the question of access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried whilst others argue that much has changed on this front.  

In his reply, Pope Francis said a lot has changed but he urged the journalists to read the presentation made by Cardinal Schonborn, describing him as a great theologian who was also Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and whom, he said,  has a thorough knowledge of the faith.  

“The answer to your question, he declared, is contained in that presentation”.   

Pope Francis confessed that he was somewhat annoyed and saddened by the media’s fixation during and after the Synod  on the single issue of whether the divorced and remarried would be allowed to take communion.  

He said the media didn’t realise that this was not the important question and they fail to notice that the family unit, the cornerstone of our society throughout the world, is in a state of crisis.  

“They don’t realise, he went on, that young people don’t want to marry, that the falling birthrate in Europe should make us weep, that there is a lack of jobs, there are fathers and mothers taking on two jobs and children are growing up on their own without having their parents around”.

Vatican Radio’s Francesca Sabatinelli was on board the papal flight and told us what struck her most about what he said on his way home…

Listen: 

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Norwegian Refugee Council and SolidarityNow have called on the European Union to halt the deportations of refugees and migrants from Greece to Turkey. They also say those wanting to seek asylum should not be kept in detention.

Refugees could be returned to Turkey without having had a proper asylum hearing or without receiving the necessary information about their legal rights, the aid agencies warn. Forced returns to Turkey were restarted after a pause last week.

Over 6,300 refugees and migrants have arrived on the Greek islands since the EU-Turkey deal came into effect on 20 March, and are being arbitrarily held in detention camps. The majority of these new arrivals have applied for asylum. While the European Commission said on 4 April that Greece had sent 1,500 asylum case officers and police officers to the islands, there is no evidence of this additional capacity on the ground. 

The Greek Asylum Service remains severely understaffed with only a handful of officials and caseworkers on the island to process cases, who are struggling to cope with the demand of asylum requests. Unless the promised additional capacity arrives, the quality of the asylum process will be severely compromised.

 Compounding the pressure are new ‘emergency measures’ adopted into law by the Greek Government on 3 April, which includes an expedited ‘fast track’ asylum hearing to determine admissibility. Under these new procedures, Greek asylum officials must undertake complex asylum examinations, including decisions on whether or not Turkey is considered a safe country for return. These complex reviews that determine a person’s future take place in just one day.

Farah Karimi, Oxfam Executive Director said, “Thousands are being held in squalid detention centres on the Greek Islands - this is the state of Europe in 2016 - while the returns deal was pushed through to the detriment of these stranded suffering people by the EU which claims to be a bastion for human rights. Shame on the EU for prioritizing detention and deportation over people’s rights to safety and dignity.”

Even with the support of this promised extra staff, it will take weeks to process the asylum claims of the more than 6,300 people currently being held in overcrowded detention centres on the Greek islands.

Aid agencies are calling on Europe to:

Immediately halt all returns from Greece to Turkey.

Immediately open all camps where people have expressed intention to seek asylum.

Immediately improve security to ensure a protective environment for all people inside the closed facility.

Maintain the integrity of the asylum claims process and ensure people have access to legal aid as a matter of urgency.

Increase the number of staff working with the Greek Asylum Service on the islands to process these claims and ensure people are able to access their right to claim asylum before any deportation order is issued.

Put an end to arbitrary arrests and detentions. The increasing use of detention as a restriction of the freedom of movement of asylum-seekers on the grounds of their irregular entry is a major concern.

(Norwegian Refugee Council)

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Aboard the papal plane, Apr 16, 2016 / 11:09 am (CNA).- Pope Francis on April 16 gave a 25-minute press conference for reporters during his return flight to Rome from Lesbos.

The Pope spoke about the refugee crisis and the global immigration crisis. He spoke of the 12 Syrian refugees, including six children, he was bringing to Italy on the flight.

Pope Francis said he saw a global family crisis and voiced concern that this was missed by media coverage of the controversy over Holy Communion for those who have divorced and remarried.

The Pope also discussed his brief greeting for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). He said the greeting in no way represented an intention of “getting mixed up in politics.”

 

Please find below the full transcription, translated into English

Pope Francis: I thank you for your day of work, for me and also for you it was a bit powerful.

Ines San Martin (Crux): Holy Father, what we’ve read… The first question is about the trip. This trip is happening just after an accord between the European Union and Turkey has come about … Do you think this is a political question in order save time? This morning, you met with the presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, at Santa Martha. I wanted to ask you your sensations on the meeting and on your way of approaching North American politics…

Pope Francis: “First of all, there is no political speculation because I didn’t know much about these accords between Turkey and Europe. I saw them in the newspapers. Bringing these refugees away is a humanitarian thing. It was an inspiration from a week ago that I immediately accepted, because I saw that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking. Everything was done legally. They’ve come with us with their documents in order. The Vatican, Italy and Greece have given them a visa. They will be welcomed by the Vatican with the collaboration of Sant’Egidio who will find work for them. But they are guests of the Vatican and they are added to the two Syrian families that are already given hospitality by the two Vatican parishes.

Second. This morning when I walked out, there was Senator Bernie Sanders who came to the congress on “Centessimus Annus.” He knew that I was leaving at that time and he had the courteousness to greet me. I greeted him and his wife, and another couple with him that was staying in Santa Marta, because all of the members of the congress, except the heads of state who I believe were staying in their embassies, were staying at the Santa Martha residence. I gave a greeting and nothing more. A greeting is an educated thing to do and does not mean not to be mixed up with politics. If someone thinks that to give a greeting means to get mixed up in politics, I think he needs a psychiatrist.


Franca Giansoldati (Il Messaggero): You speak much about welcoming, but perhaps you speak too little about integration. Seeing what is happening in Europe, where there’s this massive influx of immigrants, we see that there are many cities that suffer from ghetto sectors… in all of this, it emerges that Muslim immigrants are those who have the most difficult time integrating themselves with our values, Western values… wouldn’t it be more useful to favor the immigration of Christian immigrants? And why did you favor three entirely Muslim families?

Pope Francis: I didn’t make a religious choice between Christians and Muslims. These three families had their documents in order. There were, for example,  two Christian families who didn’t. This is not a privilege. All 12 of them are children of God. It’s a privilege to be a child of God. For what regards integration…you said a word which in current culture seems to be forgotten, after war still exist: the ghettos. And some of the terrorists are children and grandchildren of people born in European countries and what has happened? There was no policy of integration. And this, for me, is fundamental. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation integration is spoken of. One of the the three pastoral dimensions for families in difficulty is integration into society. Today, Europe must take up again this capacity that it has always had: to integrate. With integration, Europe’s culture  is enriched. I think that we need an education, a lesson, on a culture of integration.
 

Elena Pinardi (EBU): Holy Father, they’re talking about reinforcing the borders of different European countries, of deploying battalions along the borders of Europe. Is it the end of Schengen, is it the end of the European dream?

Pope Francis: I don’t know. I understand the governments and the people that have a certain fear. I understand. And, we must take a real responsibility for welcoming. How do we integrate these people with us? I’ve said this, but making walls is not the solution. We saw it in the last century, the fall of one. It doesn’t resolve anything. We must make bridges and bridges are made with intelligence, dialogue, integration. I understand the fear, but to close the borders doesn’t resolve anything. Because in the long run, that closure will hurt the people themselves. Europe must make a policy of welcoming, integration, growth, work, the reform of the economy. All of these are the bridges that lead us to not making walls. After what I’ve seen in that refugee camp, and what you saw, was to cry about. The kids. They’ve given me so many drawings. The children want peace because they’re suffering. It’s true that there they have educational courses in the camp. What have they seen? Look at this: what they’ve seen: a drowned child! The kids have got this in their hearts. Today was truly to cry about. It was to cry about. The same drawing was made by an Afghan child. These children have this in their memories. They’ll need time to remove this from their memories. There was a sun that cried in the drawing. A tear would also do us well.


Fanny Carrier (AFP): Why don’t you make a distinction between those who flee because of war and those who flee because of hunger? Can Europe give welcome to the misery of the world?

Pope Francis: It’s true, I said that some run because of war, others because of hunger. Together the two are both the effects of the exploitation of the earth. A head of government in Africa told me more or less a month ago that he is reforesting, because the land that was exploited was dead because of exploitation. Some run because of hunger, others because of war. I would invite the arms producers and traffickers, those who sell them to make war in different places - in Syria for example - I would tell these traffickers to spend a day in that camp, I think it would be healthy for them.

 

Nestor Pongutà, W Radio (Colombia): Good afternoon, Holiness. I’ll ask you the question in Spanish and then you respond in Italian. You said something very special this morning that really caught our attention: this is a sad trip. (And we understood from your words that you were really moved.) But, something changed in your heart when we found out about these 12 people, with this little gesture you’ve give a lesson to those who have turned their gaze before so much pain, before this “piecemeal third world war.”

Pope Francis: I will respond with a phrase that is not mine. They asked the same thing to Mother Teresa. They would say to her: ‘You spend so much strength, so much work, to help people to die, but what you do is not worth it.’ And she replied: ‘It’s a drop, it’s a drop of water in the sea, but after that drop, the sea will never be the same.’ Like this it’s possible. It’s a small act that we all must do in order to take the hand of those in need.

 
Josh McElwee (NCReporter): Thank you, Holy Father. We’ve gone to a nation of migrations, but also of an economic policy of austerity. I would like to ask you if you have an economic thought of austerity and also for another island, Puerto Rico. Do you have a thought on this policy of austerity?

Pope Francis: The work austerity mean, from an economic point of view, a chapter of a program. Politically it means another, and spiritually it means another. When I speak, I do so in comparison with waste. The FAO, it seems to me, in a meeting said that with one wasted meal, you could nourish the world. And we, in our homes, how much do we waste without intending to? This culture of waste. Austerity in the sense in which we speak and austerity in a Christian sense, let’s stop here and divide it a bit. I speak only in a Christian sense.

 

Francisco Romero (Rome Reports): Holiness, I simply would like to say: you have said that this refugee crisis is the worst after the Second World War. I would like to ask you what you think of the crises of migrants that arrive in America, in the United States, from Mexico, from Latin America…

Pope Francis: It’s the same thing. Migrants arrive there fleeing from hunger, etc. It’s the same problem. In Mexico, I celebrated Mass 100 meters from the border, where on the other side there were some 50 bishops from the U.S. and 50,000 faithful in one stadium. It’s the same. They arrive to Mexico from Central America. It’s a global problem. I spoke about it there to the Mexican bishops, I asked them to take care of the refugees.

 
Frank Rocca (Wall Street Journal): Thanks, Holy Father. I see that the questions on immigration that I had thought to ask you have been asked and answered by you very well. If you permit me, I’d like to ask you another question about an event of recent days, which was your apostolic exhortation. As you well know, there has been much discussion about on one of the many, I know that we’ve focused on this a lot…there has been much discussion after the publication. Some sustain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that regulates access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, that the Law, the pastoral praxis and obviously the doctrine remain the same. Others sustain that much has changed and that there are new openings and possibilities. For a Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn’t exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?
 
Pope Francis: I can say yes, many. But it would be an answer that is too small. I recommend that you read the presentation of Cardinal Schonborn, who is a great theologian. He was the secretary for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and he knows the doctrine of the faith well. In that presentation, your question will find an answer.

 

Jean-Marie Guenois (Le Figaro): I had the same question, but it’s a complementary question because you wrote this famous ‘Amoris Laetitia’ on the problems of the divorced and remarried (footnote 351). Why put something so important in a little note? Did you foresee the opposition or did you mean to say that this point isn’t that important?

Pope Francis: One of the recent popes, speaking of the Council, said that there were two councils: the Second Vatican Council in the Basilica of St. Peter, and the other, the council of the media. When I convoked the first synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was communion for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and then made me sad. Because, thinking of those media who said, this, this and that, do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the fall of the birth rate in Europe is to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are the big problems. I don’t remember the footnote, but for sure if it’s something general in a footnote it’s because I spoke about it, I think, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium.’
 
Thanks a lot, I feel calm with you. Now, they will give you something to eat!

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Aboard the papal plane, Apr 16, 2016 / 01:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has said that the family is in crisis, and that is a much bigger issue than communion for the divorced and remarried. He suggested the news media had focused too much on the latter issue during the synod and in coverage of his recent document on the family.

The Pope spoke with journalists on his plane flight back from visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos April 16.

A reporter from the French newspaper Le Figaro asked why his post-synod document “Amoris Laetitia” treats access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried in a footnote.

In response, Pope Francis noted a recent Pope’s reflections on the Second Vatican Council. There was the council as it took place in St. Peter’s Basilica, and there was the “council of the media” that covered the event, Pope Benedict XVI had said in February 2013.

“When I convoked the first synod, the great concern of the media was communion for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and then made me sad,” Pope Francis said, suggesting that he is sad that he can be annoyed.

“But do you not realize that that is not important?” he asked. “Don’t you realize that instead the family is in crisis, don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society.”

“Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry?” he asked. “Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are the big problems.”

He said he thought this aspect of the family crisis is certainly in a footnote in “Amoris Laetitia” because he spoke about it in “Evangelii Gaudium,” his 2013 apostolic exhortation.

“Amoris Laetitia” is the Pope’s post-synodal exhortation published April 8. It reflected upon the bishops’ synods on the family in October 2014 and 2015.

In a previous question during the Pope’s April 16 in-flight press conference, Francis X. Rocca of the Wall Street Journal, had asked Pope Francis about access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried and “Amoris Laetitia.”

“Some sustain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that regulates access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, that the Law, the pastoral praxis and obviously the doctrine remain the same,” Rocca said. “Others sustain that much has changed and that there are new openings and possibilities.”

Rocca asked: “are there new, concrete possibilities that didn’t exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?”

Pope Francis answered: “I can say yes, many. But it would be an answer that is too small.”

The Pope recommended Cardinal Christoph Schonborn’s presentation of the exhortation.

“You’ll find the answer there,” the Pope said.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, led the April 8 press conference releasing the document.

The cardinal had said there had been “too much concentration” on the questions regarding the pastoral care of the divorced-and-remarried. “It’s a trap to focus everything on this point because you forget the sum total of the situation,” he said.

Cardinal Schonborn said the experience of the poor is a key to reading “Amoris Laetitia.”

“In the families of the poor, little steps on the path of virtue are experienced that can be much greater than those who live in ‘comfortable success’,” he said.

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM GREECE (CNS) -- When an aide suggested Pope Francis offer to fly some Syrian refugees back to Rome with him, he said he said yes immediately because it was "an inspiration of the Holy Spirit."

In the end, he said, 12 Syrians -- members of three families, including six children -- had all the necessary papers from the Greek and Italian governments in time to fly with the pope April 16.

The fact that the 12 are all Muslims did not enter into the equation, the pope said. "I gave priority to children of God."

Two Christian families originally had been on the Vatican's list, too, he said, but their papers were not ready in time.

Spending about half an hour answering reporters' questions, Pope Francis insisted his visit to Greece with Orthodox leaders was not about criticizing a recent agreement between the European Union and Turkey to return to Turkey those entering EU territory without legal permission.

"What I saw today and what you saw in that refugee camp -- it makes you weep," the pope told reporters.

"Look what I brought to show you," the pope told them. He held up some of the drawings the children in the camp had given him. "Look at this," he said, "this one saw a child drown."

"Really, today is a day to weep," he said. Holding up another picture, he pointed to the top and said, "The sun is crying. If the sun is able to cry, we should be able to shed at least one tear" for those children who will carry the memory of suffering with them.

Asked specifically about immigration to the United States, Pope Francis insisted "it's a global problem" and that Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence also deserve the world's concern and assistance.

On other questions during the inflight press conference:

-- Pope Francis confirmed he had met U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders that morning as the pope was leaving his residence. Sanders and other participants at a Vatican conference were staying in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the pope lives.

"It was polite" for Sanders, who knew when the pope was leaving, to go downstairs to greet him, the pope said. "If someone thinks greeting someone is to get involved in politics, I recommend he see a psychiatrist."

-- The pope was asked to settle debate about his postsynodal apostolic exhortation on the family and whether the document opened new possibilities for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion under some circumstances.

"I could say, 'Yes. Period,' but that would be too short a response," the pope said. "I recommend everyone read the presentation made by Cardinal (Christoph) Schonborn" at the Vatican news conference presenting the document. The cardinal, archbishop of Washington, had said the document represented "true innovations, but no break" with church tradition.

Still, the pope said, much of the news media focused so much on the question of Communion for the divorced that they skewed the public's perception of the 2014 and 2015 meetings of the Synod of Bishops, the pope said.

"Since I'm not a saint, this annoyed me and then saddened me," the pope said. "Don't they understand that the family throughout the world is in crisis?"

"The family is the foundation of society," Pope Francis said. The great problems a reluctance by young people to marry, extremely low birth rates in Europe, unemployment, poverty -- "those are the big problems."

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Follow Wooden on Twitter @Cindy_Wooden.

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