In 1972, Fr Joseph Ratzinger originally wrote that marriage was indissoluble in the eyes of the Church, but if a "second marriage has proven to have taken on a moral and ethical dimension" and is "lived in the spirit of the faith", with "moral obligations" towards children and wife, then an opening of communion after a period of probation "seems to be nothing more than just and completely following the line of church tradition".

The original essay is circulating again in Church circles and when considering the recent Church Synod on the Family has been quoted regularly by Cardinal Walter Kasper.

Ratzinger has now redacted the fourth volume of his writings to exclude the controversal paragraphs.

Fr Vincent Twomey, one of Ratzinger's former doctorate students, suggested the omission was a "significant" attempt by the former pope to prevent his earlier words - written in a different context, time and role - being used against him now.

"Theologians must be free to push the boundaries, as Ratzinger was doing 42 years ago," said Fr Twomey. "His position [now] is quite different, but his statement from then is now being given added authority through his later position as pope."

In announcing his retirement due to advanced age, the former Pope said his strengths were no longer suited to the adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry and that he wished to devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

Sources

• Irish Times
• CathNews NZ
• Image: Catholic Herald

In light of the fact that the early Church also faced this perplexing pastoral challenge, Kasper introduces a number of witnesses who, he argues, potentially indicate a way forward for the contemporary Church toward a pastoral praxis that goes "beyond both rigorism and laxity." (p. 31).

However, in invoking the early Christian sources, it appears that Kasper, despite acknowledging that the response of the early church Fathers was "not uniform" (p. 31), somewhat misrepresents the evidence, and does so in such a way as to advance his argument in a certain direction as though it were supported by the sources he cites.

Moreover, having quoted just one author, he goes on to give the impression that the statement reflects a united and considered witness, even a consensus proceeding from certain justifications and eventually "confirmed" at a conciliar level (pp. 31 and 37).

Limiting itself to the Greek sources explicitly mentioned by Kasper—Origen, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Council of Nicaea—and leaving aside the position of Augustine and later western Christian practice, it is the purpose of this report to clarify what in fact these sources actually say, not in order to discredit the cardinal or his proposals, but all the better to elucidate the real difficulties currently faced by the Church in its effort faithfully and pastorally to bring the Gospel to bear in the concrete life-situations of divorced and remarried Catholics. Continue reading

Sources

• Adam G. Cooper, The Catholic World Report
• Image: St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College

Adam G. Cooper is senior lecturer at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family in Melbourne, Australia.

That book is Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Cardinal Walter Kasper, which has just been published by Paulist Press.

Before serving as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (2001-2010), Kasper was bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart (1989-1999).

He has taught theology at the University of Tubingen, the Westphalian University of Munster, and the Catholic University of America.

Commonweal: In your book Mercy, you argue that mercy is basic to God's nature. How is mercy key to understanding God?

Cardinal Walter Kasper: The doctrine on God was arrived at by ontological understanding—God is absolute being and so on, which is not wrong.

But the biblical understanding is much deeper and more personal.

God's relation to Moses in the Burning Bush is not "I am," but "I am with you. I am for you. I am going with you."

In this context, mercy is already very fundamental in the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is not an angry God but a merciful God, if you read the Psalms. Continue reading.

Source: Commonweal

Image: AP/Daily Telegraph