English Cardinal Vincent Nichols has urged prelates gathered in Rome for the Synod on the Family to recognise “the passionate love people have for their families”.

As the Rome synod continues, Cardinal Nichols, who is acting as moderator for one of the English language groups involved in seeking pastoral responses to the modern family and the challenges it faces explained that the pre-synod consultations carried out among families in England and Wales had revealed that whatever problems people faced today, the family itself remains “the most important thing in their lives”, adding “that’s what we have to learn in the synod”.

The cardinal was building on an earlier interview, in which he and his fellow English prelate, Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton acknowledged that Church leaders engaged in the synod discussions potentially had a limited understanding of issues facing the family due to their celibate lives within the Church.

“I thought I understood marriage and family life because I come from a family, because I’ve ministered for 37 years in a parish,” said Bishop Doyle, quoted by the National Catholic Reporter. “When I got involved in marriage and family life, I suddenly realised that there was a whole world there that I didn’t know.”

However, Cardinal Nichols has pointed out that 17 married couples are also attending the synod.

“There [is] in every small group married people and women,” said Nichols. “The substance of the work being done in small groups means that the actual voices of family and women will be much more to the fore because they will have a continual role in the small groups.”