In responding to a Vatican directive to listen “as widely as possible” to Catholics’ views on issues like contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce, bishops globally must gather information from the “grass roots” of the faithful, the Vatican official overseeing the process said Friday.

The consultation, being taken in preparation for a 2014 Vatican meeting of Catholic bishops from around the world on issues of family life, cannot be limited only to the bishops’ advisers, Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri told NCR.

Read the entire article on www.ncronline.org, with thanks to Joshua J McElwee