The Vatican has reportedly revoked the press credentials of a priest doing media reports on the synod on the family. This came after Fr Nicholas Gregoris challenged Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher after a press conference on October 6. Fr Gregoris, who had been covering Vatican news for 15 years, was told to leave the Sala Read more
Pope Francis has urged the synod on the family not to act as if the only question is pastoral care of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Francis said this in an unscheduled intervention during the second day of the synod in Rome. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told reporters that the Pope affirmed that “Catholic Read more
Many Catholics in England and Wales are concerned at a legalistic and punitive response by the Church to those who cannot live up to the ideal of marriage. That was one of the conclusions of a report summarising responses to consultation by the England and Wales bishops ahead of next month’s synod on the family. Read more
Bishop Charles Drennan, the New Zealand delegate at the Synod on Families, has been sent a letter from an expert on the Council of Trent expressing the view that the church cannot change its teaching on the dissolubility of marriage. The moral theologian is responding to an argument put forward by Cardinal Walter Kaspar proposing that it is Read more
A “path of conversion” suggested for civilly remarried Catholics would see them abstain from sexual relations for a week at Easter. Italian canon lawyer Fr Eugenio Zanetti’s idea was one of those mooted in a book “Family and Church, an indissoluble bond”, published in Italian in June. The book contained lectures by theologians and lawyers Read more
A Maltese bishop has appealed for pathways for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics who want to experience God’s mercy. In a pastoral letter, Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo wrote that “God’s mercy is not only a doctrine alongside the doctrine of marriage and the family, but is at the heart of Christian doctrine”. The pastoral Read more
A cardinal has said the synod on the family in October must not forget those who are left alone by divorce. Speaking to the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said “we have to speak about mercy and be merciful to the divorced and remarried, who often experience many sufferings and troubles”. “And Read more
Pope Francis has said divorced and civilly remarried Catholics are not excommunicated and must not be treated as if they were. At his general audience on August 5, the Pope said such people are “still part of the Church”, even though “their unions are contrary to the sacrament of marriage”. “As these situations especially affect Read more
The prefect of the pontifical household has questioned why some pastors want to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion. Archbishop Georg Ganswein told a university publication he didn’t know why some pastors want to propose what is not possible. “Perhaps they give in to the spirit of the time; perhaps they allow Read more
One of Britain’s leading lay Catholics has called on the Catholic Church to allow Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. Lord Patten of Barnes cited the example of parents unable to receive the Eucharist when their children made their first Holy Communion. “I’ve been thinking about that recently because one of my grandsons is Read more