In 1972, less than five years before his nomination as bishop and cardinal, when he was still a member of the international theological commission set up by Paul VI, Joseph Ratzinger expressed himself in favour of admitting remarried divorcees to the sacrament of the Eucharist.
This was on the condition that a couple’s second union was based on a solid bond that had stood the test of time.
The couple had to respect its moral obligations towards their children and actively practice the faith.
Admission to the Eucharist would be through extrajudicial means, with the parish priest and members of the community as witnesses.
According to Ratzinger, this solution was backed by tradition.
The future Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and future Pope expressed these thoughts in a scientific essay that has been published in a collection of Christological reflections (pp. 35-56 of Zur Frage nach der Unauflöslichkeit der Ehe. Bemerkungen zum dogmengeschichtlichen Befund und zu seiner gegenwärtigen Bedeutung; in: Ehe und Ehescheidung. Diskussion unter Christen, edited by F. Henrich and V. Eid, published by Münchener Akademie-Schriften 59, Munich 1972).
Now this essay has has been publsihed again in Ratzinger’s Opera Omnia, published by Herder and edited by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.
But having carried out a thorough review of the text, Ratzinger has decided to make significant changes to the conclusion, removing the bits in which he took an open approach toward remarried divorcees back in 1972: it is important to remember that as Prefect of the former Holy Office, with John Paul II’s approval, Ratzinger rejected the possibility of readmission proposed in a pastoral letter he received from three German bishops, one of them being the future cardinal Walter Kasper.
The volume of the Opera Omnia that contains the new version of the essay is about to go on sale in German bookstores.
Meanwile, German magazine Herder Korrespondenz has published an article quoting key passages from both texts. Continue reading
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