VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis says he is looking for a “sincere, open and fraternal” debate about divisive family issues that opens Sunday with progressives hoping for change and conservatives intent on keeping the status quo.

Francis made a cameo appearance Saturday at a twilight prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square on the eve of a two-week meeting of bishops aimed at making the church’s teaching on sex, marriage, divorce and homosexuality relevant to today’s Catholics.

Additional Images

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square in this Oct. 4, 2014 photo. His September 2015 visit to The World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia will be his first to the U.S. The Associated Press

Francis said he wanted the bishops to listen – really listen to what the people of God are saying – and then engage in a “sincere, open and fraternal” debate that will respond to the “epochal changes” that families are living through today.

Francis set the stage for a wide-ranging debate when he decided last year to send a 39-point questionnaire to bishops’ conferences around the world, seeking input from ordinary Catholics about their acceptance of church teaching on a host of issues related to Catholic family life.

The surveys confirmed that the vast majority of Catholics ignored and rejected church teaching on sex and contraception. The responses also said the church must develop a pastoral plan to minister to gays in civil unions and to children being raised in such families, making the synod the first time the Vatican is addressing homosexuality on a pastoral level.

Church reform groups said such honest responses were reason to hope that under Francis, a meeting of bishops might yield some change if only for the fact that Francis has asked bishops to honestly speak their minds.

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