VATICAN CITY (AP) — Organizers of a Vatican meeting on the Amazon are defending plans to introduce debate on married priests, saying the proposal represents the “the voice of the local church” and isn’t an official proposal of the pope.

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri acknowledged the Oct. 6-27 synod on the Amazon has generated criticism, including from cardinals who have accused organizers of making “heretical” proposals in the working document.

Baldisseri told a news conference Thursday that such “freedom of expression” was allowed. But he stressed that the working document would be replaced by a final one.

The most controversial proposal in the document calls for Amazonian bishops to study whether older married men who are respected by their communities might be ordained priests to help address the acute shortage of priests in the region.