Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the recently departed head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has offered an ingenious way to reconcile Pope Francis with his critics. In an introduction to a book to be published later this month, he argues that the papal document Amoris Laetitia does not, as is commonly supposed, lift the automatic ban on all divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion. Hence, he says, Amoris Laetitia is in line with traditional church teaching, which insists that any Catholic whose first marriage was valid but who has divorced and married again in a civil ceremony is committing adultery and hence is in a state of mortal sin. Catholics in this situation are not entitled to absolve themselves by an exercise of conscience.