(Seychelles News Agency) - Roman Catholic believers in the Seychelles have been asked to express their views on family life, marriage, education and sexuality by taking part in a Vatican survey which Pope Francis has sent to Catholic parishes around the world.

“By initiating the questionnaire, Pope Francis wishes to have the opinion of the leadership of the Church but also the opinion of the faithful at the grassroots level. The ultimate goal to be attained by sending out this questionnaire and calling a synod on the family is to promote the very rich and beneficial teachings of the Church on the family and married life,” said Bishop Denis Wiehe, head of the Seychelles diocese of Port Victoria in an interview this morning.

The questionnaire topics include relationship between the family and the person, divorce, contraception, abortion, irregular marriages and unions of persons of the same sex.

‘The social and spiritual crisis, so evident in today’s world, is becoming a pastoral challenge in the Church’s evangelizing mission concerning the family, the vital building-block of society and the ecclesial community. Never before has proclaiming the Gospel on the Family in this context been more urgent and necessary’ said the Vatican on its website.

Information gathered through the questionnaires is to be addressed at a Synod of Bishops. The synod will take place in two parts, an extraordinary general assembly later this year followed by an ordinary General Assembly in 2015.

Seychelles' Catholic diocese will take part in the extraordinary general assembly to be held in October at the Indian Ocean bishops’ conference together with the island diocese of Mauritius, Reunion, Comoros and Rodrigues.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 76.2 percent of the Seychelles population is Roman Catholic, 6.1 percent Anglican,2.4 percent Hindu, 1.6 percent Muslim, and 13.7 percent other faiths.

In an average of 1584 children born in Seychelles every year in the last 4 years,  71 percent are born to unmarried parents.