Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops’ conference, has delivered a document to the Synod indicating that German bishops favour a proposal made by Cardinal Walter Kasper to ease the ban on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Communion.
Cardinal Kasper has proposed that the Church could find a “toleration” of civil marriages following divorce, in some cases.
Cardinal Marx, the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, said he took into the hall in which debates are taking place a document drawn up by the bishops saying that most supported the proposal outlined by Kasper.
Kasper’s proposal is facing fierce opposition. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is one of five cardinals who have jointly authored a book that defends the Church’s current position, and warned against hoping for reform, which he said would be a "counterproductive and futile search for short-term consolations".
Speaking at the Vatican’s Synod on the Family this week, Cardinal Marx said: “The majority of German bishops are in favour of Kasper’s proposals. We have discussed and examined this theme in depth and I have informed the secretary of the Synod in writing.”
He added: “We have to consider the family as it is today, discussing all the themes and all the challenges with pastoral sensitivity. For Christians truth is not a system of ideas but a real person who we can talk to.”
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