Seemingly contradictory statements from Cardinal Reinhard Marx of
Munich, who represents Europe on the Council of Cardinals (C8), and the
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF),
Archbishop Gerhard Müller, are exposing seemingly deep fissures in the
Church.
The statements, on the issue of Communion for remarried divorcees,
are causing confusion and consternation among Catholics both within and
outside Germany.
Archbishop Müller recently ruled out categorically that remarried
divorcees could ever hope to receive the sacraments without an annulment
of previous marriages.
However, Cardinal Marx said at a press conference after the gathering
of the Bavarian bishops’ conference in the first week of November: “The
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cannot put a
stop to the discussion [of how the Church is to deal with remarried
divorcees]. It will be discussed in its entire breadth and depth [at the
Extraordinary Synod in October 2014].”
The Vatican questionnaire on the family, sent to bishops’ conferences
last month, is designed to reflect the opinion of grass-roots
Catholics, Cardinal Marx said. “‘Look, this is what the faithful think’
is what Rome expressly wishes to hear,” he explained and added: “While
the majority of Catholics desire lifelong marriage, there are
circumstances which lead to marriage breakdown and people expect the
Church to understand this.”
Four days later, on 12 November, the conservative German daily Die Tagespost
published a letter by Archbishop Müller to the president of the German
bishops’ conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, saying
that a Freiburg Diocese handout on allowing remarried divorcees to
receive the sacraments – in individual cases, after consultation with a
priest – had to be revoked.
“The Magisterium underlines the practice based on Holy Scripture that
remarried divorcees may not be allowed to receive the Eucharist,”
Archbishop Müller wrote in his letter, cautioning against “confusing the
faithful regarding the Church’s teaching”.
However, the archdiocese’s spokesman, Robert Eberle, said Freiburg
was “completely unperturbed” by Archbishop Müller’s demand. He recalled
Pope Francis’ words to Religious from Latin America on 6 June: “Don’t
worry if you get a letter from the CDF. Explain what you have to explain
to the CDF but carry on.”