German Bishops Greenlight Communion for Divorced

Following Argentina and Malta, the German Catholic Church is allowing Holy Communion for the divorced on a "case by case" basis.  The German bishop's issued a statement on Wednesday.  They cite the pope's exhortation Amoris Laetitia as their source for the decision.  Guidelines were also issued along with the statement.  The statement is not shocking. Many of the German bishops have been pushing for this change for years.

Their progressive views are based on a false sense of compassion and mercy.  The decision will not be taken lightly and I am sure we will see a protest on the cyber level with Catholics taking to social media and blogs to voice their distaste.  This move by the German bishops will cause a lot of confusion regarding the Church's teachings which clearly prohibit Communion for the divorced.

St. Pope John Paul II wrote in Familiaris Consortio (84): "However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage."   (http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html)

The Church's teaching is clear.  I do not understand how Germany's bishops came up with another interpretation.  Let us pray for these bishops.









Source:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/german-church-oks-case-case-communion-remarried-145355384.html

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/german-bishops-say-the-divorced-and-remarried-may-receive-communion-43199/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/world/europe/germany-divorced-catholics-communion-pope-francis.html?_r=0

https://www.lifesitenews.com/pulse/german-bishops-formalize-their-dissent-with-statement-approving-communion-f

http://www.dbk.de/no_cache/presse/details/?presseid=3315

http://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/diverse_downloads/presse_2017/2017-015a-Wortlaut-Wort-der-Bischoefe-Amoris-laetitia.pdf