Sicilian Bishops’ AL Guidelines Authorize Communion for Adulterous Couples

[JPUSC]

Sicilian Bishops’ AL Guidelines Authorize Communion for Adulterous Couples

On June 4, the Sicilian Bishop Conference, encompassing the 17 dioceses of the island of Sicily, followed their neighboring bishops in Malta by promulgating pastoral guidelines on Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia that authorize Holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried without annulment (ie. in a state of public and permanent adultery). The Sicilian guidelines also bear resemblance in their drafting to those of the diocese of Catania. The guidelines significantly admit that Familiaris Consortio required (using the past tense) such couples to practice chastity, but that this requirement has been “expanded” (read: nullified) by Francis in Amoris Laetitia. The guidelines state: “According to the assessment of the confessor and taking into account the good of the penitent, it is possible to absolve and admit [the divorced and civilly remarried] to the Eucharist, even though the confessor knows that it is, for the Church, an objective disorder.”

catholiccitizens.org/news/71645/sicilian-bishops-al-guidelines-authorize-communion-adulterous-couples

Official Document from the Sicilian Bishop Conference:
chiesedisicilia.org/cesi/allegati/5928/Orientamenti%20Pastorali%20Amoris%20Laetitia%20def.pdf

Statement on Official Website of the Sicilian Bishop Conference:
chiesedisicilia.org/chiese_di_sicilia/ufficio_stampa/00005928_LA_VIA_SICILIANA_ALL_AMORIS_LAETITIA.html

News article on Avvenire.it
avvenire.it/chiesa/pagine/sicilia-linee-guida-per-amoris-laetitia

 

[_Abyssinia]

I find these differing interpretations among differing bishops very worrying and disconcerting. How long that can this continue without something having to be done to provide some clarity?

 

[JPUSC]

I find these differing interpretations among differing bishops very worrying and disconcerting. How long that can this continue without something having to be done to provide some clarity?

Clarity has already been provided. According to Pope Francis, Cardinal Schönborn’s interpretation is the correct one.

“In that presentation your question will have the answer.”

 

[twf]

The episcopate remains divided on this issue and the rules now vary from diocese to diocese, region to region… but this is clearly what Pope Francis desired. In the mean time, I will follow my local bishop… that’s all any of us can do. In my archdiocese, such couples are not to receive without remaining chaste.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

I find these differing interpretations among differing bishops very worrying and disconcerting. How long that can this continue without something having to be done to provide some clarity?

It is actually quite clear. The Pope opened the door for this to happen so it could be implemented. He and the Bishops who want this will continue to employ it until there is enough of a political / social force behind it that it can’t be stopped. In 10 or so years when it is commonly practiced they will formalize it in a document.

Sorry if this is a disconcerting revelation to you.

 

[Stat_Crux]

In the mean time, I will follow my local bishop… that’s all any of us can do. In my archdiocese, such couples are not to receive without remaining chaste.

Difficult if one happens to live in a diocese where what was once absolutely forbidden as sinful is now being taught as solid catholicism.

The Archbishop of Malta visited his seminarians after he published his liberal guidelines allowing Holy Communion for those who refuse to practice chastity outside of marriage. In that meeting he basically said “if you don’t like it, the door to the seminary is open”. In other words, “leave”.

 

[Stat_Crux]

It is actually quite clear. The Pope opened the door for this to happen so it could be implemented. He and the Bishops who want this will continue to employ it until there is enough of a political / social force behind it that it can’t be stopped. In 10 or so years when it is commonly practiced they will formalize it in a document.

Sorry if this is a disconcerting revelation to you.

Sad to say, but I think you’re right. The whole thing seems engineered to bring about a change. Why else would Cardinal Kasper and his proposal suddenly have been thrust into the spotlight when he was on the verge of disappearing into retirement. Somebody should write a book about how it was done.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

The guidelines state: “According to the assessment of the confessor and taking into account the good of the penitent, it is possible to absolve and admit [the divorced and civilly remarried] to the Eucharist, even though the confessor knows that it is, for the Church, an objective disorder.”

IMHO, the title here seems to be more inflammatory than the actual guidelines. They do NOT state “Everyone who is divorced and civilly married should be given the Eucharist with no questions asked”.

Now I suppose it’s possible some pastors may indeed just throw up their hands and use this guideline to allow precisely that.

But at least according to the actual quote, seems that the couple actually needs to go to Confession before being admitted to the Eucharist, and this is mentioned as a possibility, not a definite yes to everyone who is in that position.

 

[_Abyssinia]

Clarity has already been provided. According to Pope Francis, Cardinal Schönborn’s interpretation is the correct one.

“In that presentation your question will have the answer.”

Are you sure that that quote is an accurate translation and what context exactly is that comment in? Have you heard of any guidelines that were authorised or a letter from a Bishop that was released in light of Amoris Latetia that was revised in light of that comment?

Cardinal Muller, Prefect of The Congregation For The Doctrine of The Faith, has said:

The pope has not, will not, and cannot change Revelation. Some claim that the pope has changed the foundations of Church morality and has relativized the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. This he would not and cannot do.

aleteia.org/2017/04/21/exclusive-interview-cardinal-muller-on-medjugorje-amoris-laetitia-and-radical-islam/2/

 

[katy]

IMHO, the title here seems to be more inflammatory than the actual guidelines. They do NOT state “Everyone who is divorced and civilly married should be given the Eucharist with no questions asked”.

Now I suppose it’s possible some pastors may indeed just throw up their hands and use this guideline to allow precisely that.

But at least according to the actual quote, seems that the couple actually needs to go to Confession before being admitted to the Eucharist, and this is mentioned as a possibility, not a definite yes to everyone who is in that position.

You are being overly optimistic. I’ve seen this approach over and over and over again. It has almost always turned out badly. I hope not, but there is practically a template for this approach.

 

[JPUSC]

Are you sure that that quote is an accurate translation and what context exactly is that comment in? Have you heard of any guidelines that were authorised or a letter from a Bishop that was released in light of Amoris Latetia that was revised in light of that comment?

Cardinal Muller, Prefect of The Congregation For The Doctrine of The Faith, has said:

aleteia.org/2017/04/21/exclusive-interview-cardinal-muller-on-medjugorje-amoris-laetitia-and-radical-islam/2/

Müller Out, Schönborn In. The Pope Has Changed Doctrine Teachers

For Francis, the right interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia” is not that of the prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, but that of the Austrian cardinal. Here, for the first time, is his complete text.

ROME, May 30, 2016 – The prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith is still the same, German cardinal Gerhard L. Müller.

Who diligently continues to carry out his task, most recently with the monumental address he gave in Oviedo on May 4 for a correct understanding of “Amoris Laetitia,” in harmony with the previous magisterium of the Church on the family.

But it is increasingly evident that for Pope Francis, it is not Müller but another cardinal who is the teacher of doctrine authorized to shed light on the post-synodal exhortation: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

On May 19, in meeting at the Vatican with the two cardinals and three bishops who make up the presidency of the Latin American episcopal conference, when asked about “Amoris Laetitia” Francis responded as follows, according to the website of the CELAM:

"The pope responds that the heart of the exhortation is chapter 4: love in family life, founded on chapter 13 of the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. While the most difficult to read is chapter 8. Some, the pope say, have let themselves get trapped by this chapter. The Holy Father is fully aware of the criticisms of some, including cardinals, who have been unable to understand the evangelical meaning of his statements. And he says that the best guide for understanding this chapter is the presentation of it made by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., archbishop of Vienna, Austria, a great theologian, member of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, highly expert in the doctrine of the Church.”

Already on April 16, questioned by the journalists on the return flight to Rome from the island of Lesbos, Francis had indicated Schönborn as the right interpreter of the document, recommending that his presentation be read and rewarding him on the spot with flattering titles, even mistakenly promoting him to former “secretary” of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

But then Müller gave his talk in Oviedo, with the intention of bringing clarity to the carousel of contrasting interpretations and applications of “Amoris Laetitia” that had already gained a foothold. But for the pope, that talk of his wasn’t worth a thing. Just as it wasn’t worth a thing for “L’Osservatore Romano,” which completely ignored it.

For Francis, in fact, the only one that still applies is the interpretation of “Amoris Laetitia” made by Schönborn at the official presentation of the document, in the Vatican press office on April 8, the day of its publication.

But then this presentation must finally be read in its entirety. In its written text and in the extemporaneous additions made by the cardinal. Just as the questions and answers that followed the press conference must also be read.

Further below all of this is completely and faithfully transcribed for the first time, on the basis of the video recording made by the Vatican Television Centre:

> Presentation of the exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” - 2016.04.08

It will be seen that, toward the end of the presentation, Cardinal Schönborn indicates free “discernment” of individual cases as the way to admit the divorced and remarried to communion.

And further on, in responding to a question from Francis Rocca of the Wall Street Journal, he outlines one of these cases, asserting that John Paul II and Benedict XVI had hypothesized it.

In this regard he refers to paragraph 84 of the 1981 “Familiaris Consortio,” where in effect pope Karol Wojtyla speaks of “those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.”

So then, Schönborn asserts that “neither Pope John Paul nor Pope Benedict explicitly brought into question” the admission of such to the sacraments, which “was already a longstanding practice.”

And further on, responding to Diane Montagna of Aleteia, he returns to insisting on how in “Familiaris Consortio” that was already “implicit” which Pope Francis now “is saying clearly, explicitly” in the wake “of the organic development of doctrine…"

1. Schönborn: the official presentation of “Amoris Laetitia”

Press office of the Holy See, April 8, 2016. In square brackets the phrases he added verbally to the written text. Original language: Italian.

Full text: chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1351305bdc4.html?eng=y

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

These things are very depressing. These last two years I have really tried to learn more about my faith. I have never lived in an area where Catholics are any more than a very small minority, and constantly had to defend the teachings of the Church, though honestly I didn’t know a whole lot myself. What I did know was that the Church held and preached the objective truth of God and man, and I could always turn to an unchanging teaching if I was unsure of something.

Now, however, it seems that the very man charged with the defense of and preaching of truth and of the faith is the one doing everything he can to obfusticate it. If we can suddenly find a loophole in the teachings of Jesus today that was expressly forbidden for the previous 2,017 yrs, how are we any different than the Anglicans, or the Lutherans, or the Baptists, etc? The whole thing unravels, and you have to wonder if any of it was ever true? Feels like a knife in the back.

Like I said, such unofficially official changes are confusing and depressing.

 

[JPUSC]

These things are very depressing. These last two years I have really tried to learn more about my faith. I have never lived in an area where Catholics are any more than a very small minority, and constantly had to defend the teachings of the Church, though honestly I didn’t know a whole lot myself. What I did know was that the Church held and preached the objective truth of God and man, and I could always turn to an unchanging teaching if I was unsure of something.

Now, however, it seems that the very man charged with the defense of and preaching of truth and of the faith is the one doing everything he can to obfusticate it. If we can suddenly find a loophole in the teachings of Jesus today that was expressly forbidden for the previous 2,017 yrs, how are we any different than the Anglicans, or the Lutherans, or the Baptists, etc? The whole thing unravels, and you have to wonder if any of it was ever true? Feels like a knife in the back.

Like I said, such unofficially official changes are confusing and depressing.

Amen, Amen, Amen! Exactly how I feel.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

It’s a desecration of our Lord.

How long Oh Lord, how long…

 

[Seamus_L]

Could anyone be blamed for getting the impression (at least in a few dioceses) that adultery, divorce-remarriage, and homosexual relationships are now acceptable within the Catholic Church ?

 

[Mark121359]

Could anyone be blamed for getting the impression (at least in a few dioceses) that adultery, divorce-remarriage, and homosexual relationships are now acceptable within the Catholic Church ?

Articles like this one confirms it. If this pope doesn’t address this soon, many, many souls are in serious peril.
I’ve never uttered these words about my Church before but…what a massive mess.

Peace, Mark

 

[Mark121359]

Could anyone be blamed for getting the impression (at least in a few dioceses) that adultery, divorce-remarriage, and homosexual relationships are now acceptable within the Catholic Church ?

Articles like this one only confirms it. If this Pope doesn’t address this soon, many, many souls will be placed in serious peril. I’ve never uttered such words about my Church before but…what a massive mess.

Peace, Mark

 

[JPUSC]

Articles like this one only confirms it. If this Pope doesn’t address this soon, many, many souls will be placed in serious peril. I’ve never uttered such words about my Church before but…what a massive mess.

Peace, Mark

:clapping:

 

[JPUSC]

It’s a desecration of our Lord.

How long Oh Lord, how long…

:clapping:

 

[Randolph]

Articles like this one only confirms it. If this Pope doesn’t address this soon, many, many souls will be placed in serious peril. I’ve never uttered such words about my Church before but…what a massive mess.

Peace, Mark

May our Lord forgive the Church and have mercy on all of us. I ache for the souls that will be bewildered and lost through the confusions, divisions and discords. Since just prior to the Synod on the Families, we have been witnessing the unveiling of a very sad chapter in the history of the Church that deeply wounds the unity and the credibility of the Church.

Let’s brace ourselves as it will get much, much worse in the years ahead as crazy ideas and heretical viewpoints will be made known without being censured or reproached. Meanwhile, viewpoints faithful to Christ and the Magisterium will be mocked, dismissed and silenced. Those in the hierarchy of the Church who are responsible for the confusions, divisions and discords in the Church will have to face the judgment of our Lord in due time. This is a serious matter.

I believe it will be a future pope who will clarify this whole mess and make the Church whole again. But it will take generations for the Church to heal. Let’s have recourse to prayers and ask our Holy Mother to intercede for the Church. The Church had been through a lot worse. Christ will never abandon the Church, and will triumph over Satan once again. Let’s hope and pray that this very sad chapter currently being written will be a very short one.