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One of Pope Francis’s closest advisors says the issue of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics is not the main focus of the upcoming synod on the family.
Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga said the synod’s focus will be mainly on “pastoral conversion” in how the Church forms and nourishes marriage and families.
The cardinal explained that Pope Francis has identified the “lack of family” is the “most important problem affecting the world nowadays”.
October’s synod has raised hopes that a change might be considered in the Church’s pastoral practices in areas like Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.
Cardinal Maradiaga said: “The doctrine [on marriage] is not going to change because indissolubility of marriage comes from Jesus.”
“It’s the word of God that says what God has united men do not separate.”
But the cardinal did expect to see some changes in pastoral practice relating to care of families.
A key question is whether some couples who are divorced every truly experienced the sacrament of marriage, Cardinal Maradiaga continued.
“It’s not a matter of giving or not giving the Communion, that’s another subject. It’s not the most important. The main concern is: Is there a sacrament or there is not?”
Giving the example of a couple that gets married out of pressure because they are having a baby together, Cardinal Rodríguez said: “We cannot talk of a sacrament there because one of the conditions of a sacrament is freedom, freedom of choice.”
He also suggested that the synod may consider some way of streamlining the process for Catholics who seek annulments of their marriages by “trying to give more possibilities to the local tribunals to take the cases of people”.
Cardinal Maradiaga heads the council of eight cardinals that advises Pope Francis on reform of Church governance.
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