Kasper held back by ‘entrenched positions’

The Synod on the Family opened the door for the readmission of remarried divorcees to the Sacraments in individual cases, Cardinal Walter Kasper said at Aachen in his festive address on the occasion of Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff’s 75th birthday, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

However, it did not “go through that door” and effect specific change as there was not a two-thirds majority for change, he said.

Cardinal Kasper said the issue had been difficult for the Synod Fathers to discuss “as firmly entrenched positions often confronted each other. The synod opened the door for admitting remarried divorcees to the Sacraments in individual cases but did not stride through. It states the principle but not the possible consequence,” he explained.