Comments 0
The Church’s doctrinal chief has said Pope Francis’s document Amoris Laetitia is in line with previous Church teaching on divorce, remarriage and Communion. The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, told seminarians in Spain that the apostolic exhortation does not change the Church’s discipline in this area. John Read more
Comments 2
Early reaction to Pope Francis’s recent document on family life has seen some divorced and remarried Catholics demanding absolution at an Italian cathedral. This was stated in an article by major penitentiary at Milan Cathedral, Msgr Fausto Gilardi, a translation of which was published on the Crux website. In the article, he mentioned the reaction to a Read more
Comments 0
Pope Francis has spoken of his annoyance at the media’s seeming fixation on Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. On his flight back from the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, the Pope was asked about a much-commented-upon footnote in his recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. In a section of the document discussing pastoral Read more
Comments 0
In a new document, Pope Francis has called for renewed efforts to strengthen marriages, while being compassionate and close to people in their frailty. The 325-paragraph document, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), draws together almost three years of consultation with Catholics around the world, including synods in 2014 and 2015. Among the many topics Read more
Comments 3
Pope Francis has invited a group of divorced and remarried Catholics to a private audience, ahead of the expected release of a document on family life. Sixty members of the Italian group L’anello perduto (“The Lost Ring”) had sent a letter to the Pope to share their experience of divorce. “In separation we have suffered Read more
Comments 0
Most New Zealanders getting divorced are in their mid-40s and don’t have kids, and the “seven-year itch” is a myth. In fact, Statistics New Zealand figures show couples are most likely to call it quits after about 14 years. Figures from 2014, the latest year reliable statistics are available, show that couples most commonly filed Read more
Comments 0
A US archbishop has put the collapse of evangelical life in some European churches down to certain pastoral practices on the sacraments. In an article to be published in the journal First Things next month, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia criticised pastoral approaches that ignore the call to conversion. He wrote about divorced and civilly Read more
Comments 0
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
Comments 0
The Vatican has dismissed as “in no way reliable” an interview which quotes Pope Francis saying “all divorced who ask will be admitted” to Communion. Veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari wrote in La Repubblica that the Pope made the comment during a phone interview. According to a translation by traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli, Pope Francis said: “The Read more
Comments 0
The final document of the synod of bishops on the family has stressed that the Church must involve the divorced and civilly remarried in all ways possible. While the document does not mention Communion for such people who are baptised, it calls for their integration into the Church community, while “avoiding every occasion of scandal”. Read more
