Diocese of Rome: Official Approval of Holy Communion for Adulterers
Diocese of Rome: Official Approval of Holy Communion for Adulterers
Slowly the truth is being demonstrated by real action. How few notice.
http://biblefalseprophet.com/2016/10/06/diocese-of-rome-official-approval-of-holy-communion-for-adulterers/Buenos Aires and Rome. For Francis, These Are the Model Dioceses
In the one and the other the pope has made it known what kind of implementation he wants for the eighth chapter of “Amoris Laetitia,” the one about communion for the divorced and remarried. His approved spokesmen: the Argentine bishops and his cardinal vicar.
by Sandro Magister
ROME, October 4, 2016 – There was a big stir all around the world over the letter of commendation written by Pope Francis to the Argentine bishops of the region of Buenos Aires, praised for how they have been able to give the right interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia” – meaning that of Francis himself, the only authentic one because, as he says, “there are no others” – on the crucial point of communion for the divorced and remarried:
> Intercambio de cartas sobre los “Criterios básicos para la aplicación del capítulo 8 de Amoris laetitia”. La respuesta de Papa Francisco
But in reality it is not yet clear what status the text of the Argentine bishops may have. It bears the generic signature of “Los Obispos de la Región,” and it does not appear in any official publication of their dioceses. It was initially distributed to the clergy of Buenos Aires – the source of the leak – and only afterward did it appear on the online news agency of Argentine episcopal conference, the AICA, with the caution that “in his every bishop has in fact the authority to clarify it, expand on it, or annotate it.”
Meanwhile however, in Rome, in the diocese of which Francis is bishop, the absolutely official guidelines on how to interpret and apply “Amoris Laetitia” are in place. They have been made public by the pope’s cardinal vicar, Agostino Vallini, who gave them solemn proclamation on September 19 in the cathedral of Saint John Lateran.
There was not on this occasion, as far as can be ascertained, a letter of the pope’s commendation. But it is unthinkable that the cardinal vicar of the diocese of Rome should have made these guidelines official without the supreme proprietor of the diocese having first read and approved them.
So now we know with certainty which is the interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia” that Francis himself authorizes in his diocese.
It is none other than the one that can be read in the 17 pages of the text signed by Cardinal Vallini, published in its entirety on the official website of the vicariate of Rome:
> “La letizia dell’amore”: il cammino delle famiglie a Roma
They are guidelines that recapitulate the main passages of the post-synodal exhortation.
But it is above all on the fateful eighth chapter that they dwell, the one concerning the divorced and remarried “bound by a previous sacramental bond.”
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The first guideline that cardinal vicar Vallini gives is that of “making available to them a service of information and advice in view of a verification of the validity of the marriage,” using the new and more rapid procedures that the pope has introduced in canonical annulment cases.
But if “the procedural way is not usable, because the marriage was celebrated validly and failed for other reasons, so that matrimonial nullity can be neither demonstrated nor declared,” then the paths considered by “Amoris Laetitia” open up.
The first step to be taken – the cardinal says – is “a long ‘accompaniment’ along the lines of the moral principle of the primacy of the person over the law.”
After which Vallini continues as follows, in the fifth and sixth points of the fourth chapter of his presentation:
“The next step is a ‘responsible personal and pastoral discernment’ (AL, 300). For example: to accompany with periodic conversations, to verify if the conscience is maturing in ‘reflection and repentance,’ the sincere openness of heart in recognizing one’s own personal responsibilities, the desire to seek the will of God and mature in it.
“Here every priest has a very important and rather delicate task to undertake, avoiding the ‘risk of incorrect messages,’ of rigidity or of leniency, in order to participate in the formation of a conscience of true conversion and ‘in no way desisting from proposing the full ideal of marriage’ (AL, 307), according to the criterion of the possible good.
“This pastoral discernment of individual persons is a very delicate aspect and must take into account the ‘degree of responsibility’ that is not equal in all cases, the influence of ‘forms of conditioning and mitigating factors,’ because of which it is possible that, within an objective situation of sin – that may not be objectively culpable or may not be so fully – a way may be found to grow in the Christian life, ‘receiving the Church’s help to this end’ (AL, 305).
“The text of the apostolic exhortation does not go further, but footnote 351 states: ‘In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments.’ The pope uses the conditional, so he is not saying that they must be admitted to the sacraments, although he does not exclude this in some cases and under some conditions [the underlining is in the text of the presentation – editor’s note]. Pope Francis develops the previous magisterium in the line of the hermeneutic of continuity and of exploration, and not in discontinuity and rupture. He affirms that we must travel the ‘via caritatis’ of welcoming penitents, listening to them attentively, showing them the maternal face of the Church, inviting them to follow the path of Jesus, helping them to mature the right intention of opening themselves to the Gospel, and we must do this while paying attention to the circumstances of individual persons, to their consciences, without compromising the truth and prudence that will help to find the right way.
“It is most important to establish with all these persons and couples a ‘good pastoral relationship.’ That is to say, we must welcome them warmly, invite them to open themselves to participate in some way in ecclesial life, in family groups, in carrying out some service, e.g. charitable or liturgical (choir, prayer of the faithful, offertory procession). In order to develop these processes it is more valuable than ever that there be the active presence of pastoral worker couples, and this will also be of great benefit to the climate of the community. These persons – the pope says – “need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church” (AL, 299).
“This is not necessarily a matter of arriving at the sacraments, but of orienting them to live forms of integration in ecclesial life. But when the concrete circumstances of a couple make it feasible, meaning when their journey of faith has been long, sincere, and progressive, it is proposed that they live in continence; if this decision is difficult to practice for the stability of the couple, ‘Amoris Laetitia’ does not rule out the possibility of accessing penance and the Eucharist. This means a certain openness, as in the case in which there is the moral certainty that the first marriage was null but there are not the proofs to demonstrate this in a judicial setting; but not however in the case in which, for example, their condition is shown off as if it were part of the Christian ideal, etc.
“How are we to understand this openness? Certainly not in the sense of an indiscriminate access to the sacraments, as sometimes happens, but of a discernment that would distinguish adequately case by case. Who can decide? From the tenor of the text and from the ‘mens’ of its Author it does not seem to me that there could be any solution other than that of the internal forum. In fact, the internal forum is the favorable way for opening the heart to the most intimate confidences, and if a relationship of trust has been established over time with a confessor or with a spiritual guide, it is possible to begin and develop with him an itinerary of long, patient conversion, made of small steps and of progressive verifications.
“So it can be none other than the confessor, at a certain point, in his conscience, after much reflection and prayer, who must assume the responsibility before God and the penitent and ask that the access take place in a discreet manner. In these cases there is no interruption of the journey of discernment (AL, 303; ‘dynamic discernment’) for the sake of reaching new stages toward the full Christian ideal.”
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“A certain openness”’ therefore exists in Amoris Laetitia with respect to the previous magisterium, the cardinal vicar maintains with the evident agreement of his direct superior.
This is not a matter, however – he points out – of an indiscriminate openness.
Concerning access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, “the pope uses the conditional” – the cardinal emphasizes – because this becomes “feasible” only in rare and thoroughly pondered cases. That is, only after “a journey of faith that is long, sincere, and progressive” that may arrive at a resolution by the divorced and remarried couple to “live in continence.”
If the two then live effectively as brother and sister, nothing changes with respect to the “Familiaris Consortio” of John Paul II, which already allowed sacramental communion under this condition.
But if instead continence should turn out to be “difficult to practice for the stability of the couple”?
It is here that the innovation introduced by Pope Francis takes over, since in this case as well – the cardinal vicar points out – he “does not rule out the possibility of accessing penance and the Eucharist.”
Once again, however, not in indiscriminate fashion. But only when the confessor, having thoroughly examined the individual case, authorizes it. Vallini in fact writes, referring to the pope’s thought: “From the tenor of the text and from the ‘mens’ of its Author it does not seem to me that there could be any solution other than that of the internal forum.”
In other words:
“It can be none other than the confessor, at a certain point, in his conscience, after much reflection and prayer, who must assume the responsibility before God and the penitent and ask that the access take place in a discreet manner.”
As long as even in these cases there is no interruption of “the journey of discernment,” which on the contrary must continue for the sake of “reaching new stages toward the full Christian ideal.”
It therefore comes as no surprise that, upon hearing these guidelines from the cardinal vicar, some priests of the diocese of Rome have complained that they are “too restrictive.”
Because in effect the cardinal has subjected the “yes” to communion for the divorced and remarried to so many conditions as to make it applicable only in the rarest of cases, apart from that of “living in continence.”
With the additional caveat that any authorization must be given only “in the internal forum” and that access to the sacraments must take place “in a discreet manner.”
*
There are two observations that can be gathered from all of this.
The first is that Pope Francis has so far given free rein not to one but to two interpretations of “Amoris Laetitia” approved by him personally: that of the Argentine bishops of the region of Buenos Aires, and that of his vicar for the diocese of Rome.
The Argentine interpretation makes access to the sacraments easier for the divorced and remarried, while the Roman does so much less.
So it can be deduced from this that for Pope Francis, the interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia” presented by Cardinal Vallini with all the trappings of official status is the minimum threshold below which one cannot descend without betraying his intentions.
While the Argentine one, the more “open,” is the solution more agreeable to him. So much so that he has rewarded it with a letter of commendation, in spite of the fact that it is only an outline for further integration and application on the diocesan level – or perhaps this very fact is a point in its favor.
The second observation is that actions often speak louder than words. And that therefore all the conditions and precautions recalled for example by Cardinal Vallini can be overturned – and in reality already are in many places – by practical behaviors that go well beyond them.
Once “Amoris Laetitia” has opened the floodgates, in fact, it is difficult for communion for the divorced and remarried to remain confined to the “internal forum” and to take place “in a discreet manner.”
In the authoritative magazine “Il Regno” the president of the Italian moral theologians, Basilio Petrà, has even theorized as “unnecessary” the reliance upon the priest and internal forum, meaning confession, to “discern” if a divorced and remarried person can receive communion:
> “Amoris laetitia”. Un passo avanti nella Tradizione
Petrà writes:
“The enlightened believer could reach the decision that in his case there is no need for confession.”
And he explains:
“It is [in fact] entirely possible that a person may not have the adequate moral awareness and/or not have the freedom to act otherwise and that, in spite of doing something considered objectively grave, may not commit a grave sin in the moral sense and therefore not have the duty to confess in order to receive the Eucharist. ‘Amoris Laetitia’ at no. 301 clearly alludes to this doctrine.”
As if to say: everyone free to go his own way.
Read the full article at Chiesa with Sandro Magister
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