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Author Topic: Indissolubility of Christian matrimony  (Read 473 times)

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Offline poche

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Indissolubility of Christian matrimony
« on: April 28, 2014, 02:37:39 AM »
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    • Pope Francis on April 25 stressed the need for bishops and priests to give a “consistent witness” to Christian moral teaching, including the lifelong nature of Christian marriage, and to teach these truths “with great compassion.”

    “The holiness and indissolubility of Christian matrimony, often disintegrating under tremendous pressure from the secular world, must be deepened by clear doctrine and supported by the witness of committed married couples,” Pope Francis said.

    “Christian matrimony is a lifelong covenant of love between one man and one woman; it entails real sacrifices in order to turn away from illusory notions of sɛҳuąƖ freedom and in order to foster conjugal fidelity.”

    The Pope’s remarks came in a meeting with bishops from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, who were making their routine ad limina visit to the Holy Father, Vatican Radio reports.

    Pope Francis noted the pastoral challenges presented by marital separation and divorce, even in Christian families, and the lack of a stable home for many children.

    “We also observe with great concern, and can only deplore, an increase in violence against women and children,” he continued. “All these realities threaten the sanctity of marriage, the stability of life in the home and consequently the life of society as a whole.”

    He stressed the need to continue “indispensable” marriage preparation programs that give “new hope” to young people for their futures as husbands, wives, fathers and mothers.

    Pope Francis’ comments follow media reports about the contents of a recent phone call he allegedly made to a remarried divorced woman in Argentina. The woman claimed that the Pope told her she could receive Holy Communion.

    Catholic teaching recognizes the nature of matrimony as indissoluble, so a new marriage can only be contracted if the first union was found to be invalid. Those who have entered a new union without a recognition of annulment may not be admitted to Communion.

    On April 24, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that the media coverage of the woman cannot be confirmed as reliable and is “a source of misunderstanding and confusion.”

    In his comments to the southern African bishops, Pope Francis also noted the damage caused by abortion and an attitude of disrespect for life.

    “Abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds after succuмbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God’s gift of sɛҳuąƖity and the right to life of the unborn,” he said.

    In addition, the Holy Father acknowledged the bishops’ reports that some Catholics are turning away from the Church to other groups, as well as a decline in family size that is affecting the number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

    “In this sea of difficulties, we bishops and priests must give a consistent witness to the moral teaching of the Gospel,” he said. “I am confident that you will not weaken in your resolve to teach the truth ‘in season and out of season’ (2 Tim 4), sustained by prayer and discernment, and always with great compassion.”

    The Pope also recognized several other concerns of the southern Africa bishops, including the plight of refugees and migrants, dishonesty and corruption in society, and unemployment.

    “Most of your people can identify at once with Jesus who was poor and marginalized, who had no place to lay his head,” he observed. “In addressing these pastoral needs, I ask you to offer, in addition to the material support which you provide, the greater support of spiritual assistance and sound moral guidance, remembering that the absence of Christ is the greatest poverty of all.”

    Despite the challenges facing the bishops, the Pope praised their “flourishing parishes” and their efforts to train permanent deacons and lay catechists. He praised African clergy and vowed religious who served “God’s most vulnerable sons and daughters,” including widows, single mothers, the divorced, children at risk, and the region’s several million AIDS orphans.

    “Truly the richness and joy of the Gospel is being lived and shared by Catholics with others around them,” the Pope said. “I pray that they will continue to persevere in building up the Lord’s Kingdom with their lives that testify to the truth, and with the work of their hands that ease the sufferings of so many.”

    He encouraged the bishops to “rekindle the precious gift of faith so as to renew your dedicated service to God’s people!”

    “May the saints of Africa sustain you by their intercession. May Our Lady of Africa be always at your side, and may she guide you as you share in the teaching, sanctifying and governing mission of Christ,” he concluded.

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-emphasizes-indissolubility-of-christian-matrimony/
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    Offline poche

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    Indissolubility of Christian matrimony
    « Reply #1 on: April 28, 2014, 02:39:57 AM »
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    • Marriage is indissoluble according to the doctrine of the Church and a Pope’s phone call could not change that, a canon lawyer has explained.

    Media speculation arose this week over an alleged phone call made by Pope Francis to a divorced and remarried Argentine woman. It is claimed he told her she could receive Communion.

    It is simply “impossible Pope Francis would have changed the doctrine on the indissolubility of the marriage” via a phone call, responded Fr. Hector Franceschi, a professor of canon law and matrimony at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

    He told CNA April 24 that he has been astonished by “the number of reports about the story, which are clearly expressions of an agenda to change the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage in view of the next synod of bishops, and to push the Church to change its praxis.”

    While some media have made much ado about the alleged conversation, the story is doubtful in its details – Fr. Federico Lombardi, Holy See press officer, noted Thursday that “that which has been communicated in relation to this matter, outside the scope of personal relationships, and the consequent media amplification, cannot be confirmed as reliable, and is a source of misunderstanding and confusion.”

    “Therefore, consequences relating to the teaching of the Church are not to be inferred from these occurrences.”

    Indeed, the Church’s doctrine cannot develop in contradiction to itself.

    Fr. Franceschi stressed that “in a speech given to the Roman Rota in 2000, Pope John Paul II stated that the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage is definitive, and not even the Pope himself can change this doctrine.”

    Bl. John Paul II had told the tribunal on Jan. 21, 2000 that “it is necessary to reaffirm that a ratified and consummated sacramental marriage can never be dissolved, not even by the power of the Roman Pontiff.”

    “The opposite assertion would imply the thesis that there is no absolutely indissoluble marriage, which would be contrary to what the Church has taught and still teaches about the indissolubility of the marital bond,” the Pope continued.

    Fr. Franceschi continued his reflection, noting that pastoral care must respond to the particularities of any given situation, adding that “a shepherd can handle with discretion peculiar cases, even while he can never go beyond doctrine.”

    “In any case, it is more than clear that a person who is divorced and remarried is not excommunicated, and is not sidelined from the life of the Church.”

    He suggested that any phone call from Pope Francis was a matter “not of a change in doctrine, but of pastoral care.”

    “It is a way to turn upside down the notion that a sinner cannot attend Holy Mass.”

    He noted that in Familiaris Consortio, his 1981 post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Christian family’s role in the modern world, John Paul II similarly “invited those who live in irregular situations to go to Holy Mass, to ask for help and to beg for Lord’s mercy.”

    Fr. Franceschi stressed that “in fact, Pope Francis has not make any official statement as Roman Pontiff. In my view, Pope Francis will not officially address the question until the synod of bishops, and any official statement will be in accordance with the doctrine of the Church.”

    Pope Francis has asked for courageous pastoral care in response to the divorced and remarried, yet to be courageous “does not mean to change the doctrine of the Church,” Fr. Franceschi noted.

    “To be courageous means to address the pain of the divorced and remarried, supporting them and helping them to put into practice what has been said several times in recent years. That is, do not exclude the divorced and remarried from the life of the Church, when in these days people are surprised if a divorced and remarried person even continues to attend Mass.”

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/papal-phone-calls-cannot-change-church-doctrine-canonist-assures/
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