<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="article-title">Holy Communion for divorcees is again on the agenda: as the Synod approaches, the Pope Emeritus has quietly spoken again</h1>
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<div class="article-author">by <strong><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/william-oddie/" title="Posts by William Oddie" rel="author">William Oddie</a></strong></div>
<div class="article-date">posted Thursday, 30 Jul 2015<br><a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/07/30/holy-communion-for-divorcees-is-again-on-the-agenda-as-the-synod-approaches-pope-benedict-has-quietly-spoken-again/">http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/07/30/holy-communion-for-divorcees-is-again-on-the-agenda-as-the-synod-approaches-pope-benedict-has-quietly-spoken-again/</a><br></div>
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<div class="article-featured"><img src="http://d2jkk5z9de9jwi.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/2015/07/21036209.jpg" class="featured-image wp-post-image" alt="Pope Benedict has quietly spoken (PA)" height="340" width="512"> <div class="featured-caption">
Pope Benedict has quietly spoken (PA) </div>
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<p class="article-standfirst"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>The ‘silent’ Pope Benedict</b></span> has ways of being heard; and he <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>is still being listened to</b></span></p>
<p>I begin with the “working instrument” (which in Vaticanese means
“preparatory document”) for the October session of the synod of bishops
on the family. This, says Sandro Magister, “is showing itself to be ever
more disappointing for the champions of change”.</p>
<p>The document reproduces in its entirety the final report of the synod
of October 2014, which itself marked a clear retreat from the
pretentiously entitled “Relatio post disceptationem” which was, you will
remember, published halfway through the synod, and which as Magister
says was “the result of a sneak attack by the innovators immediately
repudiated by most of the synod fathers”.</p>
<p>It’s clear that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>no repetition of <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>sneak attack </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>is going to be
allowed</b></span>, and that <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Cardinal Kasper</b></span> (widely supposed at the time to be a
‘mentor’ to Pope Francis) <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>is not going to be allowed once more to call
the shots</b></span> on this. Perhaps<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> Cardinal Kasper’s most insolent stroke had
been to quote</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b> the words of one Joseph Ratzinger</b></span> (<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>implying that he had</b></span>
<b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)">Pope Benedict</span>’s support)</b> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>in support of his arguments in favour of</b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>giving Holy communion to the civilly divorced and remarried.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>What happened was this. Long ago, in 1972, writing as a priest of the
Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger published an essay
which argued for access, under certain limited conditions, to Communion
for the divorced and remarried.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>While affirming the indissolubility of
marriage,</b></span> Ratzinger and other authors appealed to certain passages in
the Church Fathers that seem to allow leniency <span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>“IN EMERGENCY
SITUATIONS”</b></span>. </p>
<p>In 1977, <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Ratzinger </b></span>was appointed <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Archbishop of Munich and Freising</b></span>;
in that capacity he <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>participated in the 1980 Synod on the Family, where
he stated that “it will be up to the synod to show the correct approach
to pastors” in the matter of Communion for the divorced and remarried.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>The concluding document of that synod, Familiaris consortio (1981),
found that “reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open
the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of
having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are
sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in
contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage.</b></span> This means, in
practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the
children’s upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation
to separate, they ‘take on themselves the duty to live in complete
continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married
couples.’”</p>
<p>Days <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>after </b></span>that document was issued, <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Cardinal Ratzinger was appointed
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”</b></span></p>
<p>Then,<span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b> in 1991,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>a canon lawyer,</b></span> Fr Theodore Davey, suggested that
Confession and spiritual direction could open up the way for the
divorced and remarried to receive Communion, and<span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b> cited Ratzinger’s 1972
essay</b></span> in support of his position. <span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b> Cardinal Ratzinger quickly retracted
the “suggestions” of his 1972 essay as no longer tenable, because he
made them “as a theologian in 1972”.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Finally, Pope Benedict amended the text of his 1972 essay; The new
version excluded</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the crucial final paragraphs quoted by Cardinal Kasper.</b></span>
This was seen as a repudiation by Benedict of Kasper, who had been<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>
liberally quoting the essay to justify his calls for a more liberal
church teaching on remarriage.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(182,215,168)"><b>Now, Archbishop Georg Gänswein</b></span> has given an <a href="http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/francis-is-the-only-convincing-voice-that-says-things-as-they-are">interview</a>,in
which he gives “his views” on the issue of Holy Communion for the
divorced and remarried. They are of course, identical with those of Pope
Benedict, for whom he has been working since 1996. In 2012, he was
appointed Prefect of the Papal Household and, with the new Pontificate,
Pope Francis confirmed him in that post. Hence, Archbishop Gänswein is<span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>
the only person in the history of the Church who has served two Popes
contemporaneously. He lives with Pope Benedict: he concelebrates with
him in the morning, they pray the rosary together, and walk together for
about a half hour in the Vatican Gardens. Thus, when he speaks, he is
universally understood to be reflecting the views of Benedict XVI.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>This is part of what Archbishop </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)">Gänswein</span> said in his interview,</b></span> about the “challenge”
of “Christians who are in a marital situation theologically called
‘irregular’… persons who have divorced and remarried civilly”: </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“We must help them, certainly, but not in a reductive way. It’s
important to get close to them, to create contact and maintain it
because they are members of the Church as everyone else, they are not
expelled and even less so excommunicated. They are supported, but there
are problems in regard to the sacramental life…. The question of access
to the sacramental life must be addressed sincerely on the basis of
Catholic teaching …. </b></span>twenty years ago,<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> after a long and laborious
negotiation, John Paul II didn’t accept that remarried Christians could
accede to the Eucharist. Now, we can’t ignore his teaching and change
things.”</b></span></p>
<p>Pope Benedict’s teachings, underlining those of Pope John Paul, were
summed up by him in Sacramentum caritatis, the concluding document of
the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, in which he stressed the Church’s
continuing pastoral role towards the civilly divorced and remarried
“where the nullity of the marriage bond is not declared and objective
circumstances make it impossible to cease cohabitation, the Church
encourages these members of the faithful to commit themselves to living
their relationship in fidelity to the demands of God’s law, as friends,
as brother and sister; in this way they will be able to return to the
table of the Eucharist, taking care to observe the Church’s established
and approved practice in this regard.”</p>
<p>Now, says Archbishop Gänswein,<span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> “Clearly the Church doesn’t close her
eyes in face of the difficulties of [the] faithful living in difficult
situations. However, the Church must give sincere answers that are
oriented, not to the spirit of the times, but to the Gospel, to the Word
of Jesus Christ and to the Catholic Tradition.” </span></b></span></p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>
</b></span><br></div><div class="article-text"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,229,153)"><b>Pope Benedict,<u> I think we can assume,</u> has quietly spoken once more;
and his influence continues</b></span>.<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> Cardinal Kasper, I predict, will not speak
on this subject again: if he does, he will be generally repudiated.
Except, perhaps, in Germany; but that is another problem.</b></span></div></div><br></div>
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