Pope Francis greets the crowd at the end of Vatican's synod (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
The Catholic Church has backtracked on plans to openly welcome gay people.
It was hoped bishops would agree on a section welcoming gays at a recent summit but this failed to materialise after deep divisions arose at the Vatican synod.
The progressive document would have seen homosexual relationships accepted, as well as divorced and civilly remarried couples.
There were deep divisions among the bishops (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Despite the rejection the issues remained up for discussion ahead of another meeting of bishops next year, which was significant as they had been taboo until Pope Francis' papacy.
Pope Paul VI was beautified at the event (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
'God is not afraid of new things,' Francis exclaimed in his homily today.
'That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways.'
The event also saw Pope Paul VI, the previous one, being beatified by Francis, which was the first step toward possible sainthood.
MORE: Two women KO man with one punch after he asks how much for sexMORE: Police respond to Facebook taunts of suspect who complains about his mugshot Entities 0 Name: Francis Count: 3 1 Name: Paul VI Count: 2 2 Name: Vatican Count: 2 3 Name: KO Count: 1 4 Name: Pope Francis Count: 1 5 Name: Catholic Church Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/11NxVRL Title: Catholic synod vote 'disappointing' Description: Catholic gay rights groups say the rejection by bishops of proposals for wider acceptance of gay people, backed by Pope Francis, is "very disappointing". A draft paper issued at a Catholic Church synod in the Vatican had included text calling for greater openness towards homosexuals, and divorced Catholics who remarried.
