Cardinal Walter Kasper says Pope Francis wanted him to raise the question of Communion for the divorced and remarried, but this doesn’t mean papal approval.
The cardinal has long promoted a proposal to allow divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics to receive Communion after a period of repentance.
He raised the topic during a talk at a consistory of cardinals in Rome in February last year.
In an interview with EWTN aired last week, Cardinal Kasper said Pope Francis wanted him to put the question forward and after the consistory talk expressed his general satisfaction.
“But not the end, not in the . . . I wouldn’t say he approved the proposal, no, no, no,” Cardinal Kasper said.
Last October he told the Catholic News Service: “I had the impression the Pope is open for a responsible, limited opening of the situation . . . I have the impression the Pope is ready to reaffirm such a thing, but now it depends also on the voices of the bishops in the synod.”
However, Cardinal Kasper told CNS, the Pope wants a great majority of the bishops behind him.
“He does not like division within the Church . . .”
Cardinal Kasper told EWTN his is undeterred by opposition to his idea from various bishops’ conferences.
“I know many cardinals, I know many bishops who are more on my side,” he told EWTN.
Last year, he said a “growing majority” of synod members supported his position.
Cardinal Kasper has gained the nickname, “the Pope’s theologian”.
Pope Francis has said that reading Cardinal Kasper’s book “Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life” has done him “much good”.
In the book, Cardinal Kasper looked at empathy and compassion as a starting point for theological reflection on the topic.
Sources
- Catholic Herald
- National Catholic Register
- Catholic News Service
- Paulist Press
- Image: Irish Examiner
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