In a letter to his priests, February 2, regarding application of the papal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL), Bp. Vitus Huonder of Chur, Switzerland, told his priests:
The reception of Holy Communion by civilly remarried divorced persons must not be left up to a subjective decision. It's necessary to rely on objective conditions (the Church's requirements for the reception of Holy Communion). In the case of civilly remarried divorced persons, respect for the existing marriage is decisive.His statement conflicts with guidelines from bishops of neighboring countries like Germany and Austria, who are saying a penitent's conscience has the final say in such matters.
German bishops are telling their priests an individual's "decision to receive the sacraments must also be respected."
Bishop Benno Elbs of Feldkirch, Austria, claims such people can "make this decision with their conscience."
Switzerland's bishop is instructing
his priests that a divorced and remarried person must make clear they
intend to live with their current partner in complete continence before
they're able to receive absolution as mandated by Pope St. John Paul II
in his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (FC):
[W]hen the absolution of a civil remarried divorced person is requested, it must be established that this person is ready to accept the provisions of Familiaris Consortio (paragraph 84) ... This means that if the two partners for serious reasons can not fulfill the obligation to separate ... (see AL par. 298), they must live together as brother and sister.
Paragraph 84 of FC reads,
"Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to
the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who ... 'take on themselves
the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from
the acts proper to married couples.'"
John
Paul II teaches that this practice of withholding the sacraments from
active or unrepentant adulterers "is based upon Sacred Scripture."
Bishop Huonder explains that this discipline is still in force.
"This is still the case because the new apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia,
doesn't expressly provide for a 'new legal regulation in canon law.'
(AL par 300). The penitent must express a firm determination to live
respectfully of the original marriage."
The reception of Holy Communion by civilly remarried divorced persons must not be left up to a subjective decision.
Paragraph 300 of AL supports
Bp. Huonder's assertion that AL didn't change church law.
"(N)either
the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of
general rules, canonical in nature." In the same paragraph, AL does
call for "pastoral discernment" that "can never prescind from the Gospel
demands of truth and charity, as proposed by the Church."
The
bishop emphasizes this same point in his opening remarks, namely, that
AL doesn't change the Church's discipline on marriage. He does so by recalling what Pope Francis says in paragraph 3 of AL. "The Holy Father says in the introduction to Amoris Laetitia,
that not all doctrinal, moral or pastoral discussions must be decided
by an intervention of the magisterium (AL par. 3)."
Bishop Huonder says
this statement reveals how to understand the value of AL.
Cardinal
Donald Wuerl, Washington's archbishop, believes AL has changed the
Church's discipline by exalting personal conscience over Church doctrine
and discipline.
In a January 6 letter to his priests, he highlighted the role of conscience, claiming it as a major point in AL, mentioning conscience 12 times.
He stressed it is the role of those recieving Holy
Communion to judge whether or not they should receive. Wuerl adds, "At
Mass, we priests invite people to the banquet of the Lord. Individual
parishioners are responsible for the judgment of the state of their soul
before God."
Cardinal Raymond Burke, former prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, has repeated
that AL isn't part of the Church's magisterial teaching. He maintains
the document merely contains the Pope's personal reflections.
"Pope
Francis makes clear, from the beginning, that the post-synodal apostolic
exhortation is not an act of the magisterium," says Cdl. Burke.
"The
very form of the document confirms the same. It is written as a
reflection of the Holy Father on the work of the last two sessions of
the Synod of Bishops."