AMORIS LAETITIA - MOST CONTROVERSIAL VATICAN DOCUMENT

“AMORIS LAETITIA” - THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL AND LONGEST DOCUMENT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Amoris Laetitia published by Pope Francis this year, its a document that hints to allow re-married and divorced Catholics the chance to receive the Holy Eucharist.

This contradicts the early teachings that, contracted marriages after divorce and without annulment of the first marriage is adulterous, constituting a bar to reception of the Eucharist.

When Pope Francis published Amoris Laetitia five months ago, it was predicted that the discussion of the document and its implications for Catholic teaching on marriage and the family would be lively and controversial. So it has turned out. The debate took a fresh turn last week with the publication of leaked letters between the Pope and the bishops of his native Argentina concerning the interpretation of a central point.

Before looking at the contents of the leaked letters, it may be useful to refresh our memories about Amoris Laetitia and why it is controversial.

Early in his pontificate Pope Francis made clear that he wanted the Synod of Bishops to discuss the place of the family in the world today and its repercussions for the Church.

It is usual for each synod to be followed by the publication of a “post-synodal exhortation” where the Pope sums up the bishops’ findings and adds reflections of his own. Amoris Laetitia, the exhortation following the synod, was the longest papal document in history, reflecting the complexity of the issues involved and the Church’s desire to shed light on the crisis confronting the modern family.

The issue which grabs most attention is the possibility that Pope Francis might change the discipline on Communion for the divorced and remarried. The Pope has given strong hints from the first months of his pontificate that he wishes to relax the traditional discipline, which regards marriages contracted by Catholics after divorce and without annulment of the first marriage as adulterous, constituting a bar to reception of the Eucharist.

For such people, “Amoris Laetitia opens the possibility of access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist.”

The synod debates proved inconclusive. There was fierce opposition from many bishops to any relaxing of the discipline, which had been reaffirmed energetically by Pope St John Paul II. The debate developed along predictable lines. Conservative pastors and theologians maintained that the Pope was not changing Catholic doctrine. Others hailed a development of practice, setting aside the letter of the law in order to offer sinners the mercy which is, for Francis, the very essence of the Gospel.

In a sequence of events we have become accustomed to under Pope Francis, the document was leaked, then after a few days confirmed as authentic by the Vatican. From now on, it seems clear that the Pope intends to legitimize a practice which is not only without official precedent, but was also ruled out by a predecessor he himself has canonised. St John Paul II’s 1981 post-synodal exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, unambiguously makes continence a pre-condition for the civilly remarried seeking access to the Eucharist.

The papal intervention presents a twofold difficulty for Catholics who take seriously the teaching authority of the Church, and of the Pope as the chief depository of that authority.

This leads us to the second problem, which is even more serious because it goes beyond any one teaching and touches upon the nature and scope of papal authority in itself.

Most Catholics will be puzzled, and possibly outraged, at the notion that a pope might be suspected of teaching error.

Some knowledge of history and doctrine is necessary to enable us to look at the situation calmly. Catholics believe that the Pope is divinely preserved from error – that he is infallible – only in very specific circumstances. He must, whether presiding over a General Council or acting on his own authority, make it clear that he intends to deliver a teaching that will bind the conscience of the faithful and is irrevocable.

In modern times, only the teachings on the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the Assumption in 1950 have been proclaimed in this manner, and Francis has made it clear that he is not establishing binding norms – on the contrary, he has said that he wishes to provoke debate.

Pope Francis often appears impatient with theological debate and even uninterested in setting out a coherent intellectual account of the orthodoxy which must undergird orthopraxis (correct conduct). The Church as a whole, however, cannot long do without such an account if her claims to teach authoritatively are to possess any real credibility.

Atuimah Valerius. Like ua on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatholicYouthPortal

Source: catholicHerald.co.uk