Cardinal opposes Vatican over church teaching on marriage

Dealing with divorced and remarried: Cardinal Marx lays into the Vatican

Cardinal Marx : " We are going to see that the issue is completely discussed"

Should the Catholic Church allow divorced and remarried to be re-admitted to communion? No, says Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. The Munich Cardinal Marx does not want to accept this.

Freising - The Bavarian bishops want a broad debate on the way that divorced and remarried people are treated by the Catholic Church. They distance themselves thereby from the Prefect of the Vatican congregation, the former Bishop of Regensburg Gerhard Ludwig Müller .

The discussions on this topic should not be narrowed solely to the teaching of the Church, said Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich at the end of the autumn meeting of the Bavarian bishops in Freising, "The Prefect of the Congregation cannot end the discussion . "

People who get divorced after a church wedding and marry again are, up to the present time, not equal members of the Catholic Church. They are excluded from church offices, they may not receive the Sacraments. Such is the teaching, even if some priests already behave differently.

"Make the voices of the grassroots audible "

Archbishop Müller still does not want to admit to communion divorced Catholics who have remarried, as before, whereas Marx says, "We are going to see that the issue is completely discussed". The response to a questionnaire sent by Pope St. Francis on the situation of marriage and the family was "an ambitious task." The general aim was to make the voices of the grassroots audible " .

The background of Marx's statements is a global opinion survey by the Vatican. State of the Church wants to find out the views of Catholic communities on sensitive issues, such as dealing with divorce and homosexuality. The document is planned by Pope Francis Special Synod of Bishops on the Family prepare in October 2014.

The Archbishop of Freiburg and Head of the German Bishops' Conference, Robert Zollitsch had repeatedly shown himself open to a new path. "They belong to the Church," he said at the end of the Autumn Plenary Assembly of the Bishops' Conference on remarried Catholics. The general aim was " to examine the entire range of ecclesiastical solutions."

The Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg issued in October “Recommendations for the Pastoral Care to support people who are separated, divorced and after civil remarriage”. To support people who are separated, divorced and after civil remarriage. If the marriage should have failed, it is important, "to be close to those and to support them who (deliberately) have not entered into any new partnership," it states in the text. Thus remarried have the way opened to them which was previously barred to them.

Cathcon- the whole relevant passage

In particular, it is necessary to respect and to support in a pastoral

manner the spiritual decision to participate in varied ways in the

life of the Church and consciously to refrain from receiving the

sacraments.

As a result of a responsibly-taken conscientious decision, in the

specific situation, the possibility can be given to receive the

sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation, of reconciliation

and anointing of the sick, inasmuch as the required specific

disposition of faith is existent. The parish and consequently the

Church as a whole are lived as a community in which reconciliation

with past life history is possible and put specifically into practice.

This is experienced as positive and strengthening not only by those

affected, but also helps the whole community, to experience the

merciful action of Jesus Christ at first-hand.

Marx calls for restraint in the case of Tebartz van Elst

The Munich Cardinal also spoke about the affair of the Limburg Bishop Franz -Peter Tebartz van Elst - and called for restraint. "I would hope that some now will just keep their mouth shut," Marx said .

He left open whether he was referring to the Chairman of the Regional Committee of Catholics in Bavaria. Albert Schmid recently defended Tebartz van Elst and thus incurred the displeasure of lay organizations.

Marx argued for waiting for the resolution of allegations. Marx regretted the increased numbers leaving the church in connection with the affair. The Bishop of Limburg has come under criticism because of his leadership style and the dramatic increase in costs for the new bishop's residence. Currently Bishop Tebartz van Elst is taking a break in the Lower Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Metten.

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