Posted on 07/20/2016 4:27:55 PM PDT by ebb tide
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has published a front-page essay by Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian political leader and adviser to St. John Paul II, supporting the argument of Amoris Laetitia that Catholics who are divorced and remarried might, under some circumstances, be allowed to receive Communion.
Buttiglione argues that the Catholic Church has always recognized the possibility that individual circumstances determine whether or not someone is in a state of sin. He writes:
The path that the Pope proposes to divorced and remarried is exactly the same that the Church proposes to all sinners: Go to confession, and your confessor, after evaluating all the circumstances, will decide whether to absolve you and admit you to the Eucharist or not.
Buttiglione's argument matches a previous statement by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, making the case that Pope Francis intended his apostolic exhortation to be interpreted as allowing for Communion for divorce-and-remarried couples on a case-by-case basis. The prominence given to Buttiglione's essay in the Vatican's official newspaper suggests a concerted effort to promote that interpretation of the papal document.
The confessor can’t absolve the supposed penitents -—*any* penitents -— if they openly intend to persist in their sin.
So it’s back to Square One.
Tell it to Pope Francis and his official rag.
Rocco Buttiglione is a brilliant philosopher and his book on Machiavelli is excellent. However, he is not a canon lawyer and needs to step aside as the marriage details are clarified by the canonists.
How have canonists differed from Buttiglione on “marriages”?
Can a public figure not agree with canonists on the right interpretation of Church doctrine?
Thanks. Good questions. Canonists probably would prefer to look at problems in a marriage at a different speed than confessors and slower. Buttiglione seems to highlight confessors and downplay canonists.
Buttiglione and canon lawyers need to work together, since both have helpful insights. According to canonist Dr. Peters, ‘Married couples, especially Christian married couples, may be sure that Christ understands their difficulties and they should presume about their marriage, even in troubled times, what the Church presumes about their marriage: that it is valid, grace-laden, and fulfilling.’
Mr. Peters has more confidence in the majority of marriages than Pope Francis.
https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/the-missing-middle-term/
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