Pope Francis has challenged fundamental Catholic doctrine: raising and entertaining the sacrilegious notion that divorced and remarried might be able to receive Holy Communion. As a matter of fact, he used the Eastern Orthodox, whom you mentioned in your post as being in"almost full-communion" with Roman Catholic Church, as an example.
If any religion is compromising their beliefs, it's Pope Francis trying to do it to the Roman Catholic religion.
ebb tide:
With respect to the Eastern Orthodox, I am 48 years old and as long as I can remember, the Roman Missal has always stated that the Catholic Church does not forbid Orthodox Christians from partaking of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. So the issue at hand is as follows: 1) A divorced and re-married Eastern Orthodox Christian could in theory and practice receive Communion in a Catholic Church. Now, under Eastern Theology with respect to the Sacrament of Marriage, I am no expert and my knowledge is limited but that Eastern Orthodox Christian who was married, divorced and remarried in the Orthodox Church could receive communion in a Catholic Eucharist.
2) A Catholic who is divorced and remarried can’t, unless the decree of annulment was granted with respect to the first marriage, which in theological terms [not civil, state, and federal law terms] states, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony did not exist.
To be fair, Pope Francis has not challenged anything, theologians of various opinions have raised this issue that I mentioned above and if you stop and think about it, it does present an interesting dichotomy.
I may be wrong, but I thought divorced/communion thing was Cardinal Kasper, and not the Pope himself. I am aware he has been called the “Pope’s theologian,” but wouldn’t necessarily hang it around his neck.