on the surface it is asking the Pope to clarify a footnote in the document that suggests people married outside the church or in “irregular unions” can receive communion.
But the real question is a deeper matter: Can people who are living in a state of sin receive the sacrament? This not only applies to those married outside the church, but unmarried couples living together, active homosexuals, members of the Mafia, drug addicts/pushers, Crooked politicians who take bribes (a big problem here in the Philippines) or who support abortion/euthanasia, and people involved in the abortion industry, to name a few.
Jesus was pretty strict about the divorce part, although Paul and some ancient churches (i.e. the Orthodox churches) do allow divorce for adultery, or when the unbelieving spouse refuses to stay with the Christian spouse.
But the larger issue is letting people who are living a sinful lifestyle to receive the sacrament, which Catholics consider the body and blood of Christ.
the Pope has condemned those who were “rigid” and saw good and evil in black and white terms..
Bishop Burke bluntly asked:
Questions two, three, and four are about fundamental issues regarding the moral life: whether intrinsically evil acts exist, whether a person who habitually commits grave evil is in a state of “grave sin”, and whether a grave sin can ever become a good choice because of circumstances or intentions.
and that is the heart of the whole matter.
The mafia? Time to go to confession! jk Already did a long time ago.
I can answer the question. Nope. You can’t live in grave sin and be a good Christian.
I knew gangsters who would laugh about kicking an old man down the stairs of his own house after robbing him, and worse.
then they’d go to church on Sunday.
I wasn’t as bad as then and never physically harmed anyone but I lived in grave sin and it is not compatible with God.
I never gave God a thought in the midst of this period in my life.
How can you and keep doing what you’re doing, if it’s wrong?
You can’t.
No room or God when you’re committed to evil.
I found my way back to God when I stopped doing wrong.
It is what it is.