Vatican reportedly rejects German bishops' proposal for intercommunion of spouses

[_Abyssinia]

Vatican City, Apr 18, 2018 / 10:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has reportedly rejected a planned proposal by the German bishops' conference to publish guidelines permitting non-Catholic spouses of Catholics to receive the Eucharist in some limited circumstances.
Austrian news site kath.net has reported that Vatican sources say the CDF, with papal approval, has suspended the German bishops’ proposal, and sources close to the congregation have confirmed this to CNA.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...hops-plan-for-intercommunion-of-spouses-65682

 

[tseleehw]

Finally some common sense and a bit of clarity coming from the Vatican after what has seemed like a couple months of non-stop controversy on various matters. I have no illusions that this proposal is permanently shelved, however, and I expect it to be revived again at some point (led once more by the Germans, no doubt).

 

[mdgspencer]

 Good.
 Some good news.

 

[KMG]

The Vatican didn’t reject it. They’ve called for talks in Rome. By no means is this over…and by all means, this issue could lead to an open schism. There’s already a de facto schism over certain issues raised by this pontificate…the German crisis could be what precipitates an open rupture in Catholicism.

 

[tseleehw]

Yes, the new story is that now the German bishops are denying that their proposal was shot down. The fact that they are all going to the Vatican to talk about this is very troubling. I would not be surprised if the meeting is being called so that Cardinal Woelki can be strong-armed by the Pope into accepting the original German proposal, as the Pope has made clear his efforts over the last few years to open up communion to as many people as possible, regardless of Catholic doctrine or teaching.

My guess is what happened is that the proposal was indeed rejected by the CDF, or it was looking like they were going to react to it unfavorably, and then Pope Francis stepped in to put a hold on it so he could help push it through. Time will tell but since Cardinal Marx is one of the Pope’s cronies I definitely don’t see this ending well for the orthodox bishops of Germany.