Posted on 06/24/2015 9:13:23 AM PDT by TomServo
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis said Wednesday that it may be "morally necessary" for some families to split up, marking a change of tone in the Catholic Church's attitude to troubled marriages.
"There are cases in which separation is inevitable," he said during his weekly general audience, with a message hoping to encourage greater compassion in the Church ahead of a highly anticipated global meeting on family life in October.
"Sometimes, it can even be morally necessary, when it's about shielding the weaker spouse or young children from the more serious wounds caused by intimidation and violence, humiliation and exploitation," he said.
Francis said there were many families in "irregular situations" and the question should be how to best help them, and "how to accompany them so that the child does not become daddy or mummy's hostage".
The issue is likely to be addressed during the upcoming synod -- a gathering of bishops -- on the family, which Francis hopes will help reconcile Catholic thinking with the realities of believers' lives in the early 21st century.
A first synod on the issues last year saw riled conservative bishops mobilise to block the approval of language heralding an unprecedented opening to the gay community and greater flexibility on the treatment of divorced Catholics.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
That's fine and dandy, but I didn't ask what FedGov or StateGov said. I asked what the Bible said.
If a woman is being abused by her spouse, is it moral for her to live apart from her husband? Certainly, even if she was validly married. Marriage isn't a suicide pact.
That’s what I was always taught in Catholic school. Of course, we Catholics were attacked for not allowing the divorced to remarry in the Church. You can’t win for losing!
Again, the answer is really really really really really simple! I'll ask real slow, just to make it even more simple: What. Does. The. Bible. Say?
Who determines "legitimate reasons"? Far as I know, the Bible says only adultery is "legitimate". The catholic "church" says otherwise.
Yup. Rejoice and be glad. ;o)
“If the husband is beating the child, then he needs to go to jail”
And the wife needs to divorce him or else he will STILL have some parental rights over his child. No joke.
“Oh now I see...Your anti-Catholic....that explains it...”
Nope. I’m a a Catholic who actually knows the Catholic faith. Wish you could say the same.
“What does the Bible say?”
Answer the question yourself: So you believe a woman should stay with her husband in the same house and not divorce even if the husband is say beating the children? Feel free to use the Bible in your answer.
Is it just me, or do the slides seem greased for the absolute destruction of anything that has been built on reason in the past, just to make way for complete anarchy and degeneracy?
Marriage, sexual relationships, history, everything.
B) Idiotic comments: Taking a page from liberal doctrine that any remark must be discounted and dismissed by personal attacks? A great way to defend our pope... Or shall you be nuancing and interpreting your words on this as well?
C) New teaching? Not at all. Exceptions have always existed within the doctrine, but why bring such exceptions forward in public forums? It serves no good purpose, and only weakens the moral authority behind the teachings and the strength of marriage. ‘But the pope said that sometimes separation is good!’ What, we'll dispatch millions of interpreters to every family argument? Better that he avoid such statements in any context.
That doesn’t mean they can re-marry and commit adultery.
So the message is “don’t stay around in an unsafe situation where your spouse is beating you.”
Stop the Presses!
You're referring to the last edition of the catechism. The practice of allowing civil divorce with no remarriage in limited circumstances originated with the development of civil divorce, and existed in canon law previous to the publication of this catechism.
I know that my father's mother obtained a civil divorce from my father's father in the 1930s. It was necessary to protect her family. She did not remarry. She always viewed my father's father as her husband, and prayed for him daily.
The Church had no problem with her divorce. She remained a life-long communicating Catholic, and died a peaceful death in 2000, after saying the Rosary.
sitetest
“How about ... no ... it was 1997”
First, the CCC came out in 1992. You’re referring to the second edition (1997) - and your link doesn’t work. Second, you can see the same sort of thing in many books about marriage published in the 1950s. I’ve seen it in old books myself. At that time, however, men were more likely to be MEN who actually continued to support their wives and children even if they separated and many Catholic couples split without ever divorcing. Today fewer men voluntarily support their children (sad, but true) and divorce settlements are often necessary to make that happen. Remember, at one time the Catholic bishops of America did place excommunication upon divorced people during the U.S. Bishops’ Council of Baltimore in 1843. The bishops removed that in 1884 though excommunication for any Catholic who divorced and remarried outside the Church still remained.
“Perhaps not every statement by the pope on virtually every issue would have to be nuanced and interpreted if the pope restrained himself to topics and beliefs that apply to the vast majority of the faithful, rather than constantly delving into the exceptions that are better handled between the parishioner and their priest?”
I believe this pope is a poor communicator, but here - and in some other cases - he said nothing wrong. What is happening is that the secular press focuses on anything that can be twisted and faithful Catholics - like trained seals - jump through exactly the hoops the secular media expects them to.
“Taking a page from liberal doctrine that any remark must be discounted and dismissed by personal attacks?”
Nope. An idiotic comment - and that’s what I called them - is an idiotic comment. It’s not a personal attack. It’s just a statement of fact.
“A great way to defend our pope... Or shall you be nuancing and interpreting your words on this as well?”
I’ve read the CCC. Have you? Seriously, when I see Catholics posting comments attacking the pope BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN TOO LAZY OR STUPID to have read the CCC what can be said. . . except that they’ve been too lazy or stupid to read the CCC?
“Exceptions have always existed within the doctrine, but why bring such exceptions forward in public forums?”
It’s in the catechism. That’s a publicly accessible document used everywhere by Catholics. What part of that is new to you?
“It serves no good purpose, and only weakens the moral authority behind the teachings and the strength of marriage. “
Ridiculous.
It’s probably happened, historically, when one of them “died in his sleep”.
A man or woman who sincerely fears for his safety or the safety of his children can certainly live apart from his spouse without waiting for counsel from clergy. The preservation of human life takes priority.
The Church, "the pillar and foundation of truth," has the power to "bind and loose," i.e., indisputable ecclesial authority, and has the authority to lay out the principles for a valid separation.
But the Church does not grant divorces and encourages couples to do whatever is reasonably possible to repair their marriages.
Far as I know, the Bible says only adultery is "legitimate". The catholic "church" says otherwise.
According to Catholic Answers, the meaning of the term, "pornea" is debated among Scripture scholars. Regardless,
Jesus’ and Paul’s constant and forceful teaching about the permanence of sacramental marriage as recorded elsewhere in Scripture makes it clear that Jesus was not making an exception in the case of valid, sacramental marriages. The constant teaching of the Catholic Church attests to this as well.
He’s making me and even my JEWSIH husband VERY nervous!!!
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