Cardinal plays down reform expectations

A leading cardinal has sought to dampen expectations among those hoping for a shift in church teaching on remarried divorcees.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a member of the Pope’s council of eight advisers, said the forthcoming synods – the first of which starts in October – will be examining marriage and the family principally, and not divorce.

When asked if remarried divorcees could receive a church blessing the cardinal, who was being interviewed at the Katholikentag in Regensburg this week, said: “A broad and difficult discussion will take place at the synods. African Christians, for instance, have quite different problems and views from Europeans. This could disappoint some people, but in a world Church we cannot expect everyone to think like us.”

He added that the Pope wanted a new “synodal way” of governing the Church where theologians and bishops’ conferences can give their views.

His remarks came as Cardinal Vincent Nichols issued a pastoral letter, to be released for the Feast of Pentecost tomorrow, where he explained that in the lead up to the synods, the challenges faced by families would be examined. He pointed out that those “who speak of the pain of marriage breakdown, the sense of failure they carry, and their hopes for care and acceptance within the community of the Church” would be heard but he has so far given no indication about whether he thinks Communion could be given to remarried divorcees. 

n The president of the Council of Latin American Bishops (Celam), Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, said in Rome that the family synod’s approach to divorce would now be “more real”, writes Isabel de Bertodano, and the question of divorcees who remarry was not regarded as “fundamental”. “What is fundamental is the crisis facing families today,” he said.