For remarried, Communion without annulment not possible
Oct 30, 2005
While the Catholic Church seeks better ways to reach out to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, the fact that they may not receive Communion "is not disputed or disputable," said Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo.
ROME (Catholic News Service, Oct-27-2005) -- "They are in an objective situation that goes against the will of God and does not permit them to receive Communion," said the cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
In an Oct. 27 interview with the Rome newspaper La Repubblica, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said that while the Oct. 2-23 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist recognized the "painful and dramatic situations" of Catholics barred from the Eucharist "no modification of this doctrine is possible."
The church's teaching that the marriage bond is unbreakable is based on the words of Christ, and the church has no authority to overturn that teaching, the cardinal said.
Catholics who remarry without having obtained an annulment of their original union -- a declaration that the marriage was invalid from the beginning -- can receive Communion only "if they promise to live as brother and sister without sexual relations," the cardinal said.
Cardinal Lopez Trujillo criticized the media for giving the impression that "this was an open question, as if doors were open for the future, creating expectations for a possible change."
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told reporters in Rome Oct. 24 that the synod discussions made it clear that "the problem of the divorced and remarried is very much a burning question."
While the synod did not advocate any specific changes in church policy, Cardinal Kasper said, "Every bishop in the Western countries knows this is a serious problem, so I cannot imagine the discussion is closed."
Cardinal Kasper also pointed to questions raised by Pope Benedict XVI in July during a meeting with priests in northern Italy. The pope insisted compassion was not a good enough reason to give Communion to someone in an irregular marriage, but "given these people's situation of suffering it must be studied."
The pope told the priests "a particularly painful situation is that of those who were married in the church, but were not really believers and did so just for tradition, and then finding themselves in a new, nonvalid marriage, convert, find the faith and feel excluded from the sacrament."
Pope Benedict said that when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he asked several bishops' conferences and experts to study the problem, which in effect was "a sacrament celebrated without faith."
He said he had thought that the church marriage could be considered invalid because the faith of the couple celebrating the sacrament was lacking.
"But from the discussions we had, I understood that the problem was very difficult" and that further study was necessary, the pope had said.
Cardinal Lopez Trujillo told La Repubblica that at the July meeting "the pope declared quite clearly that there was no possibility for them (the divorced and civilly remarried) to receive the Eucharist. He did say that they should be treated with mercy."
As for Cardinal Kasper's remarks, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said, "I think he wanted to restate the pastoral aspect of the matter and what he was saying was not understood."
"This is not an open question. When the Lord commands, the bishops and the faithful must obey," Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said.
For remarried, Communion without annulment not possible