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CHANGSHA, China (AP) -- Several hundred gay rights supporters have gathered outside a court in central China for the country's first same-sex marriage lawsuit, a landmark moment for gay rights in China....
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Washington D.C., Apr 12, 2016 / 04:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia Pope Francis is helping priests to be better pastors, not giving individual consciences the ultimate authority to decide their spiritual state, a moral theologian and a canon lawyer both maintain.“We still have to form conscience,” said Fr. Thomas Petri, academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., in an interview with CNA. “That’s what [Pope Francis] is doing with this exhortation, is helping people to understand … what the beautiful vision of Christian marriage is.”Pope Francis is not allowing divorced-and-remarried persons to determine whether or not their first marriage is valid, explained Dr. Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.Rather, the Pope is teaching priests to be “tactful” and “sensitive” in explaining to divorced-and-remarrie...
Washington D.C., Apr 12, 2016 / 04:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia Pope Francis is helping priests to be better pastors, not giving individual consciences the ultimate authority to decide their spiritual state, a moral theologian and a canon lawyer both maintain.
“We still have to form conscience,” said Fr. Thomas Petri, academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., in an interview with CNA. “That’s what [Pope Francis] is doing with this exhortation, is helping people to understand … what the beautiful vision of Christian marriage is.”
Pope Francis is not allowing divorced-and-remarried persons to determine whether or not their first marriage is valid, explained Dr. Kurt Martens, a professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Rather, the Pope is teaching priests to be “tactful” and “sensitive” in explaining to divorced-and-remarried couples why they might not be able to receive an annulment, to get them to “come to understand” what that means, he said.
Amoris laetitia, released April 8, is Pope Francis' post-synodal apostolic exhortation on love in the family. It addresses many topics regarding marriage and family life, from the Biblical foundation of the family to reflections of St. Paul on charity in 1 Corinthians, to practical advice for married couples.
Chapter Eight deals with “accompanying, discerning and integrating weakness”, or pastoral care for those in irregular family situations. Contrary to assumptions that it demonstrates a change in Church teaching on reception of Holy Communion by divorced-and-remarried persons, the document upholds existing Church teaching, both Martens and Fr. Petri affirmed.
The exhortation must be interpreted “obviously within the context of the texts that have gone before it,” Fr. Petri stated. It “builds strongly” on Familiaris consortio, St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation on the role of the Christian family in the modern world following the 1980 Synod on the Family.
In Familiaris consortio, John Paul II had written that the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the reception of the Eucharist is possible for the divorced-and-remarried only when they 'live in complete continence'.
Martens agreed that Amoris laetitia builds upon the foundation of Familiaris consortio. “I don’t see a fundamental change in here,” he said.
Pope Francis makes the “classic distinction” between an “objective state of a situation” and “subjective culpability,” Fr. Petri explained. There are three conditions necessary for a sin to be mortal – serious matter, sufficient reflection, and full consent of the will – and sometimes people enter into adulterous unions without knowing Church teaching, he added.
“What [Pope Francis] is suggesting here is that sometimes people enter into these new unions without having a full knowledge of what the marriage is,” he said. The pastor’s job is to lead them to live in accord with Church teaching.
“And part of the discernment of accompaniment … is this slow conversation in helping people understand where they are before God and where God’s grace wants them to move, or is moving them to be.”
The pastor “leads” the couple “to understand what they can and cannot do,” Martens said.
The apostolic exhortation goes on to state that “because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.”
The footnote for that paragraph (305), footnote 351, states that “in certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments,” and later states that “the Eucharist ‘is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak',” quoting Pope Francis' own 2013 apostolic exhortation on the new evangelization, Evangelii gaudium.
Asked if this footnote admits of certain cases where the divorced-and-remarried may receive Communion, Fr. Petri first said that the teaching on the matter “comes from Our Lord Himself,” wh o said that one who divorces their spouse and marries another commits adultery. The footnote “cannot suggest carte blanche that everyone receive or not receive Communion,” he explained.
Any passage must be interpreted “in light of existing Church teaching,” he said.
He pointed to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts’ 2000 “Declaration Concerning the Admission to Holy Communion of Faithful Who are Divorced and Remarried”, which is cited in Amoris laetitia.
Regarding reception of Communion by divorced-and-remarried persons, the declaration states:
“Those faithful who are divorced and remarried would not be considered to be within the situation of serious habitual sin who would not be able, for serious motives - such as, for example, the upbringing of the children – ‘to satisfy the obligation of separation, assuming the task of living in full continence, that is, abstaining from the acts proper to spouses’ (Familiaris consortio, n. 84), and who on the basis of that intention have received the sacrament of Penance. Given that the fact that these faithful are not living more uxorio is per se occult, while their condition as persons who are divorced and remarried is per se manifest, they will be able to receive Eucharistic Communion only remoto scandalo.”
It is the priest’s job to help form a person’s conscience so they can correctly determine if they are in this state or not, Fr. Petri explained.
“We have to accompany people where they are in their moral life, and help them move forward. And that’s going to be different for every particular circumstance,” he said, adding that “pastoral care can often be murky” and “circumstantial.”
In the footnote, Pope Francis refers “in the first place” to the Sacrament of Penance, Martens said, and then to Holy Communion. This order points to Church teaching of reception of Holy Communion only after one’s sins have been forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance and they are in the state of grace, he said.
The Pope has “underscored…the importance of confession” for his entire papacy, he added.
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2016 / 05:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Tuesday reflected on the “polite persecution” of Christians that takes away their freedom in the disguise of modernity and progress.“Persecution, I would say, is the daily bread of the Church. Jesus said so himself,” he said April 12.During his Mass at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, the Pope reflected on the death of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.A Christian is “one who must bear witness to Christ who has saved us,” he said. He remembered the men and women “persecuted only for saying that Jesus Christ is Lord.”The martyrs were not limited to Roman times, those who were “thrown to the lions.” Rather, they are men and women of every age, he said, pointing to the dozens of Christians killed in Pakistan in a March 27 attack.Pope Francis also considered persecution of Christians in general.The Pope distinguished between two kinds of...
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2016 / 05:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Tuesday reflected on the “polite persecution” of Christians that takes away their freedom in the disguise of modernity and progress.
“Persecution, I would say, is the daily bread of the Church. Jesus said so himself,” he said April 12.
During his Mass at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, the Pope reflected on the death of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
A Christian is “one who must bear witness to Christ who has saved us,” he said. He remembered the men and women “persecuted only for saying that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
The martyrs were not limited to Roman times, those who were “thrown to the lions.” Rather, they are men and women of every age, he said, pointing to the dozens of Christians killed in Pakistan in a March 27 attack.
Pope Francis also considered persecution of Christians in general.
The Pope distinguished between two kinds of persecution: the first is clear and explicit, targeting someone who confesses the name of Jesus Christ. The other form of persecution is “disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress.”
“It is a kind of – I would say somewhat ironically – ‘polite persecution’.”
“When someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God,” he said.
“We see every day that the powerful make laws that force people to take this path,” he lamented. “Countries that do not want to follow these laws are accused and “politely persecuted.”
This kind of persecution includes taking away the right to conscientious objection.
“God made us free, but this kind of persecution takes away freedom!”
“If you don’t do this, you will be punished: you’ll lose your job and many things or you’ll be set aside,” he continued. “This is the persecution of the world.”
The Pope said “the prince of this world,” the devil, heads this “polite persecution.”
He said it is the “great apostasy” when “the powerful want to impose attitudes, laws against the dignity of the children of God, persecute them and oppose God the Creator.”
Pope Francis reminded the faithful that God promised not to distance himself from them and promised to be with them. He prayed to God for “the grace to understand that a Christian’s path must always continue forward amid two kinds of persecution.”
A Christian must suffer many times, but “Jesus is always beside us, with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.”
IMAGE: CNS/ReutersBy WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francishas appointed Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to Mexico since 2007,to be the new apostolic nuncio to the United States.He succeeds Archbishop CarloMaria Vigano, who has held the post since 2011. Archbishop Vigano turned 75 inJanuary, the age at which canon law requires bishops to run their resignationinto the pope.As president of the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville,Kentucky, shared "a heartfelt greeting and my prayerful support" ofthe newly named nuncio "as he embarks on his service to our country.""A shared closeness withthe church in Mexico already creates a strong fraternal bond between us,"said the archbishop about the April 12 appointment."With fond affection, allowme also to thank Archbishop Vigano for his selfless contributions to the lifeof the Catholic Church in the United States," Archbishop Kurtz added.A nuncio is a Vatican diplomatwith the rank of ambassador. He i...
IMAGE: CNS/Reuters
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to Mexico since 2007, to be the new apostolic nuncio to the United States.
He succeeds Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who has held the post since 2011. Archbishop Vigano turned 75 in January, the age at which canon law requires bishops to run their resignation into the pope.
As president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, shared "a heartfelt greeting and my prayerful support" of the newly named nuncio "as he embarks on his service to our country."
"A shared closeness with the church in Mexico already creates a strong fraternal bond between us," said the archbishop about the April 12 appointment.
"With fond affection, allow me also to thank Archbishop Vigano for his selfless contributions to the life of the Catholic Church in the United States," Archbishop Kurtz added.
A nuncio is a Vatican diplomat with the rank of ambassador. He is responsible for diplomatic relations with the government, but also serves as the pope's representative to the church in a given country, which includes responsibility for coordinating the search for and vetting of candidates to become bishops.
Christophe Louis Yves Georges Pierre was born Jan. 30, 1946, in Rennes in France's Brittany region, where his family has had roots for many generations. He first attended school at Antsirabe in Madagascar, pursued his secondary education at the College of Saint-Malo in France and also spent one year in Morocco at Lycee Francais of Marrakesh.
He entered Saint-Yves seminary in Rennes in 1963, but he interrupted his studies for two years of military service in 1965 and 1966. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Rennes at the Cathedral of Saint-Malo April 5, 1970.
Then-Father Pierre earned his master's degree in theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris and his doctorate in canon law in Rome. He was parochial vicar of the parish of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul de Colombes in the Diocese of Nanterre, France, from 1970 to 1973.
He then earned a diploma at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, which provides training to priests for eventual service in the Vatican's diplomatic corps. In 1977, he entered diplomatic service, with his first post in Wellington, New Zealand. He then served in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Brazil and at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva.
In July 1995, St. John Paul II named him an archbishop and appointed him as apostolic nuncio to Haiti. He served there until 1999, and then was named nuncio to Uganda, where he stayed until 2007, when he was named nuncio to Mexico.
Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl said in a statement that he looked forward to welcoming Archbishop Pierre to the archdiocese "where he will make his home as he carries out his responsibilities across the country." The apostolic nunciature is located in the nation's capital.
"Archbishop Pierre is recognized for his distinguished diplomatic career and service to the church," said the cardinal, who also expressed gratitude for Archbishop Vigano's service.
"As he departs Washington and concludes his service to the church, I offer my gratitude for his many kindnesses as we worked together, particularly in anticipation of the visit of Pope Francis to the United States last September," Cardinal Wuerl said. "Archbishop Vigano carries with him our heartfelt prayers and best wishes."
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