Allowing Divorced and Remarried Catholics to Receive the Sacraments
Sept 12, 2004
While he was Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart in 1993, Kasper and Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz haggled with the Vatican over their plan to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments in defined circumstances.
(The Tablet, 6 July 2002) They produced draft guidelines that were rejected by Rome. “I now see the solution that we proposed at the time was, perhaps, not mature enough”, Cardinal Kasper reflects. He does not say the solution was wrong, and he does not think the problem is solved. “None of us wants to give up the indissolubility of marriage, but family life and marriage are in a crisis right now. The Church has a mission to maintain this position but it must take into account that disasters happen.”
Allowing Divorced and Remarried Catholics to Receive the Sacraments