POPE FRANCIS urged bishops to speak their minds yesterday about contentious issues as he opened a two-week meeting aimed at making church teaching on family matters relevant to today's Catholics.

He told bishops they shouldn’t even be afraid of showing him disrespect, saying that he wants a frank and open debate that shouldn’t be reined in by fears that some issues are too taboo to even be discussed.

“You have to say what you feel the Lord tells you to say, without concerns of human respect and without fear,” he declared.

The run-up to the meeting has been marked by mudslinging between conservative and progressive clerics over issues such as such as contraception, gay rights, marriage and divorce.

The Vatican is restricting public information about what is said behind closed doors during the meeting.

Surveys confirm that the vast majority of Catholics ignore and reject church teaching on sex and contraception.