Posted on 07/28/2016 10:15:50 AM PDT by ebb tide
Announcement highlights tensions between Francis and Polish hierarchy after closed door meeting last night
A senior bishop has said that the Church in Poland will refuse communion to divorced and remarried Catholics despite the landmark family document from Pope Francis which opened up the possibility.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, said that giving communion could not be allowed following a period of pastoral discernment - something which Francis has advocated - adding that if remarried divorcees had a valid first marriage they cannot receive the eucharist.
His remarks came just hours after the Pope’s arrival in Krakow for a global gathering of young Catholics and highlighted the tensions between Francis and Poland’s hierarchy. “This [communion for divorced and remarried] cannot be solved in a confessional box in two minutes or even a couple of years,” the archbishop told journalists at a briefing last night. “This is a path for the priests and the laity to walk together knowing that if a marriage has been validly concluded there is no ground to administering communion to remarried divorcees.”
The archbishop cited John Paul II’s document on the family - where communion for divorced and remarried was effectively ruled out - and said that Francis’ text, issued following two synod gatherings, had taken into account the Polish hierarchy’s recommendations. These, he added, “retain the truth of the gospel that we cannot deliberately overstep Christ’s precept against divorce.”
Archbishop Gadecki also pointed to Francis’ desire for local churches to have a say: “The Holy Father says the general laws are very hard to enforce in each country - the Pope speaks about decentralisation, that is the conferences in individual countries might interpret papal encyclicals looking at their own religious and cultural situations,” Archbishop Gadecki said in a briefing to journalists last night.
On the day of his arrival the Pope had a closed-doors meeting with the bishops where no speeches were made - in the past Francis has used such gatherings in Mexico and the United States to upbraid national hierarchies. But given that the legacy of his polish predecessor John Paul II looms large during his visit the Pope sought to avoid any public clashes.
Good for the Polish Church!
They are thereby distancing themselves from the evil Satanist who resides in the Vatican. Yet another gift from those imbecilic bishops who met at Vatican II.
Poland needs to maintain its stability. EU and NATO could be eyeing Poland as a place to send millions of refugees.
I’m surprised they even let this usurper into Poland.
The fact that this announcement comes after this closed door meeting only lends credibility to the belief that Francis absolutely wants the remarried to receive communion and, therefore, there is no doubt as to his meaning/purpose in AL.
Do you always ignore Catholic Caucus designations?
There’s gotta be a sweet spot somewhere between the Pope’s embracing of mulims, and the Pole’s excommunication of divorce and remarried parishioners.
The Masses here at WYD have been pretty orthodox.
This is the new ‘embrace the sodomy’ papal doctrine. Here in Boston we’ve informally been implementing it for decades with such wonderful results:http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Shanley-Paul-Richard.htm
Exelent. Birth ratest and family happyness is about to increase in Poland.
Divorce for any reason besides a wife’s unfaithfulness isn’t biblical. The poles got it right.
Nobody is talking about SHUNNING anybody.
You’re not a Catholic are you?
Nobody is being excommunicated.
What they SHOULD be doing is refusing communion to the Pope...
This is a Catholic Caucus thread.
1) Jesus never differentiated bettween the duties of the wife and husband.
2) No behavior by either party to a valid marriage can end the marriage.
Christ had this “go and sin no more” thing that was so judgemental by the standards of today’s liberal church goers.
Divorced Catholics can go through a process called annulment. But that would mean acknowledging their sin and working to keep from repeating it. Every Catholic who gets a divorce isn’t being refused communion here. Only the unrepentant. I know that whole repentance concept sticks in a lot of people’s craw.
If Poland wasn’t stuck between Germany and Russia, I’d move there!
Well a pox on the woman at the well with the five previous husbands...no living water for her!/s
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