“The divorced-remarried are not excommunicated?”

On August 5 2015, just a few weeks before the Synod, which looks to be just as scandalous as last year's, Pope Francis addressed again, during the Wednesday audience in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, the question of the divorced and remarried:

Brothers and sisters, with this catechesis we return to our reflection on the family.

Today I would like to ponder those who, following the irreversible failure of their marriage bond, began a new union. The Church knows well that such a situation contradicts the Christian Sacrament. But she always sees through with her mother's heart; a heart that always seeks the good and the salvation of people.

It is necessary, for the love of truth, to discern situations; for example clarifying the difference between who underwent separation and who caused it. The awareness of the need for a fraternal welcome, in love and truth, has grown much towards the baptized who have established a new life with another after the failure of their sacramental marriage.

These people are not excommunicated, and they should not be treated as such: they are still part of the Church. They should also be encouraged to live their belonging to Christ and to the Church through prayer, listening to God's Word, attendance at the liturgy, Christian education of children, charity, service to the poor and the commitment to justice and peace. Christian families are collaborating with Christ, the Good Shepherd, caring for the injured families by accompanying them in the life of faith of the community!"

The point is clever and the attack is not easy to understand, which makes it all the more dangerous.

First of all the Pope speaks of "the irreversible failure of their marriage bond." While such situations may exist, many endure separations because one or other of the spouses does not wish to make the effort to rebuild a life together. It is also a scandal that in the two years since the pope decided to put the family at the center of "debates" it has never been a question of encouraging spouses to return to the loyalty of their marriage, instead considering each time the divorce as a fact and irreversible.

Certainly, "these people are not excommunicated." First the Pope mixes together a little of all situations. Of whom is he speaking? The spouse who suffers divorce? He/she does not commit an offense if he/she remains true to the marriage despite the betrayal! Or does he speaks of the one who left, who is unfaithful to the marriage? This one is in grave sin until it is repaired—or does everything in their power to repair the offense. Is the divorce a mutual desire? Both spouses are then in a state of mortal sin, unless a serious reason had triggered that separation, and as long as the separation endures.

The situation is simple: the partner who is in grave sin turns away from the grace of Christ and is voluntarily deprived of access to the sacraments. The partner who has no grave sin with which to reproach him/herself not only keeps the friendship of God and access to the sacraments, but especially has need to take recourse to the sacrament for support in the painful ordeal of betrayal.

Excommunication is a canonical penalty in which the Church forbids the admission to the sacraments due to faults of extreme gravity, such as abortion. This public sanction aims to make an impression by highlighting the particular gravity of the offense. The Church did not consider it necessary to apply such a penalty to those who cause a divorce. But this does not change in anyway access to communion, the Eucharist. By his or her sin, the person who turns away from the grace of Christ is voluntarily deprived of access to the sacraments.

By using the word "excommunication" in regards to the divorced—when it comes to access to communion for these people—the Pope has introduced serious confusion in the meaning of words, because the term excommunication has nothing to do with the divorced. Moreover, at no time did the Pope recall the requirement to do everything to restore justice by publicly reinstating married life.

The program of the 2015 Synod is announced!

Source www.medias-presse.info

Translated from the French for www.sspx.ca, and slightly edited.