The recent synod opened, but didn’t enter, a door on the issue of civilly remarried people being admitted to the sacraments, says Cardinal Walter Kasper. Speaking in Germany on October 29, Cardinal Kasper said the synod “stated the general principle, but not the possible consequences”. “That was the only way to achieve the necessary two-thirds Read more
Senior cardinals have said a news story that the Pope has a brain tumour was intended to weaken his authority. Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias told The Tablet the story indicates there are people who want to damage the Pope. “It’s the first thought that came to me. Somebody is trying to weaken the Pope’s position Read more
A German cardinal has warned not to expect dramatic changes in Church practice from October’s synod on the family. Cardinal Reinhard Marx told a Munich meeting the synod may not be ready to approve allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion. The cardinal said “it will not be simple” to bring this about. Cardinal Read more
A biblical scholar has concluded that Jesus did not repudiate the Mosaic concession whereby marriages could be ended because of ‘hardness of heart’. Camaldolese monk Guido Innocenzo Gargano, a professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, put forward the theory in the Urbaniana University Journal earlier this year. Now, in a new essay, he has reiterated Read more
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 Read more
Pope Francis wants to create a “listening magisterium”, says German Cardinal Walter Kasper. Speaking at a conference in Washington, DC, Cardinal Kasper said Francis wants to retool the Catholic hierarchy. This will result in a hierarchy that not only defines and enforces Church teachings, but also listens and responds to how laypeople understand God’s will. Read more
American Cardinal Raymond Burke has said Cardinal Walter Kasper wants to change the Church’s magisterial teaching. In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Cardinal Burke said “we are all bound by the Magisterium”. “But some synod fathers, above all Cardinal Kasper, want to change it.” Cardinal Kasper’s “merciful” solution for remarried divorcees who wish Read more
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster has told priests not to regard this year’s synod on the family as a “battle”. Speaking at a Chrism Mass at Westminster Cathedral during Holy Week, Cardinal Nichols warned such hostilities can cause “collateral damage”. His comments came a week after he rebuked the 461 priests in England and Wales Read more
Cardinal Walter Kasper hopes this year’s synod on the family will develop the Church’s tradition in the area of pastoral support of divorced people. Cardinal Kasper was speaking at the England launch of his book “Pope Francis’s Revolution of Tenderness and Love”. Bishops attending the synod, scheduled for October 4-25, will be called to discern Read more
A Vatican department allegedly stopped copies of a book defending the Church’s teaching on marriage from getting to many attendees at last year’s synod. “Remaining in the Truth of Christ” contained contributions from the Vatican’s doctrinal chief Cardinal Gerhard Müller, church historian Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and American Cardinal Raymond Burke. The book aimed to counter Read more