Pope: Divorced and Remarried People Not Excommunicated

Pope Francis has declared that divorced Catholics who remarry deserve better treatment from the church, warning pastors against treating these couples as if they were excommunicated.

“They always belong to the church”, he added, calling on pastors to welcome Catholics who have remarried without an annulment, even though such Catholics are now barred in most cases from receiving the Eucharist, the central sacrament of the faith.

Speaking ahead of a highly anticipated global meeting on family life in October, he said “awareness that a brotherly and attentive welcome… is needed towards those who… have established a new relationship after the failure of a marriage, has greatly increased”. With the pope himself encouraging acceptance, this will make it “very difficult” for church leaders to say no. As such, he said Christians should “not add additional weight beyond what the children in this situation have to bear”. A Synod on the family has been called for this October.

Pope Francis has once again given the Catholic Church a welcoming face, rather than stern judgmental disapproval, saying divorced and remarried Catholics are “not by any means excommunicated” and that the Church should display “the heart of a mother”.

“There is no easy solution for these situations, but we can and must always encourage these families to participate in the church’s life, through prayer, listening to the Word of God, the Christian education of their children, and service to the poor”.

And when Pope Francis presided over the weddings of 20 couples at St. Peter’s Basilica last September, the group included Catholics who had been married before (although their previous unions had presumably been annulled).

Under the teachings of the church, individuals who have divorced and remarried are considered as adulterous and living in sin.

The headline on the Vatican’s official news site is explicit: “Pope: divorced and remarried people not excommunicated”.

One of the areas of particular concern, the Pope said, pertains to the children affected by such complex family situations, for they are who suffer the most.

Might this be a topic of conversation when the world Synod of Bishops convenes later this year in Rome? Thus, they are not allowed to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion.

The resolution states that “the Senate stands with Pope Francis and the scientific consensus that human activity is the primary driver of climate change, present climate trends are unsustainable and immediate action must be taken to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the deleterious effects of human-induced climate change”.

“I do see them discussing it and I do foresee more pastoral attention around people whose situations include the experience of divorce”.