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Roman Catholics are divided on issues such as divorce and birth control amid widespread resentment at Church teachings, two separate surveys have found.

The Vatican sent out questionnaires to parishes worldwide in November, before a synod on the family this October.

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Results from several countries have now been released, showing that, in Switzerland, 90% of respondents called on the Church to lift its refusal to give communion to divorcees who remarry.

Unjustified discrimination

In Germany, bishops said the survey showed that Catholics viewed the communion ban for divorcees as “unjustified discrimination and … merciless.”

German respondents also rejected Church bans on premarital and gay sex and birth control.

The Church-backed news service SIR reported that Swiss respondents were in “dramatic disagreement” with the Church’s ban on contraception, while the Catholic Church in Luxembourg warned that results from the survey were “alarming” and showed the importance given to Church teaching was in “free fall.”