Pope Francis has presided over the marriages of 20 couples in St Peter’s Basilica, the first weddings he has officiated at as Pontiff. Several of the couples already had children and some had been living together before being married. It was a rare act for a Pope, with the last time a pontiff presided at Read more
A Belgian bishop has urged the synod on the family to have the courage to bring the Church’s moral teachings more in line with the lived experience of the laity. In a letter reported by The Tablet, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said there is a gap between the moral teachings of the Church and Read more
Five cardinals have joint-authored a book that finds current Church doctrine regarding divorced and remarried Catholics is the most merciful approach. “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church” has been written by Cardinals Gerhard Müller, Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Carlo Caffarra, and Velasio De Paolis. Four theologians and professors Read more
Catholic psychiatrist and theologian Dr Jack Dominian, who championed a rethink on Christian sexual ethics, has died in the United Kingdom, aged 84. As early as 1977, Dr Dominian warned against what he called the Catholic Church’s pre-occupation with marital chastity at the expense of other factors in a successful marriage. In his “Proposals for Read more
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has again strongly defended the Church’s teaching on Communion for the divorced and remarried. In a book length interview published on July 29, Cardinal Gerhard Müller discussed “mercy” and its connection with justice. He also dwelt on the image of the Church as a Read more
Whether to marry and whom to marry are among the biggest decisions—arguably the most important—a woman or man makes. The statistics reveal that human beings aren’t really as skilled as they need to be in this arena, with the rate of divorce roughly between 40% and 50% for first marriage and at 60% for second tries. And Read more
In Cardinal Walter Kasper’s recent address to the extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals (February 20-21, 2014), published in English with additional material as The Gospel of the Family (New York: Paulist, 2014), he makes mention of certain early Christian sources in the hope of suggesting “a way out of the dilemma” (p. 30) presented by the question of Read more
A new working document for the upcoming synod on the family has hinted at initiatives to help divorced and remarried Catholics. The 85-page “Instrumentum Laboris” was released by the Vatican on June 26. It was drafted after consultation last year, when a questionnaire about family life was sent to bishops’ conferences. The working document stresses the truth of Church teaching, Read more
Pope Francis has warned married couples not give in to a culture of wellbeing and substitute owning dogs and cats for having children. To make this a deliberate choice can make for a bitter and lonely old age, the Pontiff warned at a Mass at his residence at the Vatican on June 2. Several couples Read more
Job did. Jesus did, too. Sooner or later, we all do.Life pushes us to the brink and we’re left hanging over the cliff with one hand grasping a clump of grass and looking down at the abyss. Despair clutches our throat and what’s left of our heart cries out to a silent God. Our only Read more