[Catholic Caucus] EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Schneider says Amoris Laetitia is ‘against divine law’, must be ‘explicitly corrected

As the Pope gathers prelates to the Vatican to discuss Amoris Laetitia, Bishop Athanasius Schneider has expressed his concerns that the text is a practical “denial of the divine truth of the indissolubility of marriage” and an attack on the “ineffable sanctity of the Holy Eucharist”.

The prominent prelate, auxiliary of Astana in Kazakhstan, gave a wide-ranging interview to the Catholic Herald recently, discussing issues such as the Society of Saint Pius X, the traditional Mass, Amoris Laetitia (AL), the recent document commemorating Nostra Aetate and his overall assessment of the state of the Church.

In the past 12 years and more, Schneider has emerged as one of the most prominent and well-known ecclesial commentators, joining in many of the more high-profile endeavours to clarify Church teaching amidst confusion which has proliferated in recent years.

That has involved prior criticism of AL, which is once more back at the centre of Church discussion thanks to the conference Pope Leo convened this week for presidents of bishops conferences and heads of Eastern churches.

Speaking to this correspondent, Schneider questioned how the conference could discuss the family without resolving the “confusion” which AL has spread.

“How can we continue to promote marriage as God established it – teaching the indissolubility of marriage and the family which is the domestic church in reality – in an environment of obvious confusion regarding the indissolubility of marriage, because Amoris Laetitia opened the door for communion for divorced people.”

Cardinal Walter Brandmüller – one of the signatories of the 2016 dubia regarding AL – warned in 2015 that the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia which Pope Francis later approved would be heretical. Such an interpretation, which was promulgated by the Argentinian bishops and approved by Francis, is still in force.

“This cannot be accepted and continue, this must be explicitly corrected, because this is against divine law,” said Schneider.

The bishop also addressed the recently published document marking 60 years of Nostra Aetate. Schneider has engaged in public debate regarding issues and ambiguities found in some Vatican II texts. He also famously made a visit to Pope Francis to address concerns regarding the 2019 Abu Dhabi document and its passage claiming that God wills a diversity of religions.

Such a phrase is found in the commemorative Nostra Aetate document, something which Schneider described as a “a pure expression of relativism”.

Part one of the Catholic Herald’s full interview with Bishop Schneider is found below, with the second half to be published in the coming days.

Michael Haynes: We have a conference now on Amoris Laetitia, marking ten years since the document was published. The Vatican said just a few days ago that the conference is not a re-evaluation of the document, but it’s a “delving into the family and pastoral realities that have breathed this text in peculiar ways.” You’ve been one of the many bishops who have called for clarity on this. There have been appeals to the Pope to rescind the document even very shortly after he was elected.

What do you think would be the state for the Church if – in the very conference Pope Leo convened – it avoids the controversy and just further cements ambiguity and chaos into the Magisterium?

Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, how can we delve deeper into what marriage and the family is, when there is confusion? We will simply delve in a deeper confusion still. How can we continue to promote marriage as God established it – teaching the indissolubility of marriage and the family which is the domestic church in reality – in an environment of obvious confusion regarding the indissolubility of marriage, because Amoris Laetitia opened the door for communion for divorced people.

Pope Francis approved the norms drawn up by the bishops of the Buenos Aires region. They explicitly stated in the norms that if it is not feasible for a divorced couple to live in continence as the Church demands, then they can, nevertheless, receive Holy Communion. But for whom is it not feasible to live chastely? We all have the obligation from God to live chastely with the help of the grace of God of course. And with the grace of God it is feasible. This norm says basically if it’s not feasible to live chastely then you are enabled to receive Communion.

And so, these norms say that if they cannot live in continence, then the door for all sacraments is open.

In his approval Pope Francis says this is the only correct interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. He said this is the best interpretation, and his statement is still valid, since it was so far not revoked.

Then the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, declared a short time afterwards that these norms and the approval of Pope Francis are the expression of the authentic Magisterium of the Church. This is still valid – this cannot be accepted and continue, this must be explicitly corrected, because this is against divine law.

It is in practice a denial of the divine truth of the indissolubility of marriage and at the same time it’s a direct attack on the ineffable sanctity of the Holy Eucharist, when people living in an objective state of sin against the commandment of God are allowed to receive the Holy Eucharist which is the Holy of Holies. By this action they are committing at least an objective material desecration, a sacrilege of what is most holy and eating for themselves their judgment as St. Paul warned.

These are serious issues which cannot be silent and downplayed. Therefore this meeting in Rome should, with all honesty address it with the Pope saying that it cannot continue as it has done.

Pope Francis’ document with his official interpretation is undermining divine truth, is damaging the marriage itself and it is damaging our families by proposing such possibilities.

Therefore, such meetings about the family will not have fruit and meaning unless Amoris Laetitia and the document of Pope Francis regarding the norms of the Region of the Buenos Aires bishops is corrected.

Haynes: It seems so far that perhaps the Pope is possibly keeping the status quo on Amoris Laetitia, though we’ll see what this conference brings. However, this new document marking the anniversary for Nostra Aetate does seem to re-present some of the issues that the Abu Dhabi document contained. You famously went to Rome to meet with Pope Francis to discuss those.

In passage 58 the new document states: “Faced with contemporary challenges – religious extremism, global migration, secularisation, and ecological and social crises – religions are called to transform the world and society so that they may become fraternal expressions of God’s will.”

Bp. Schneider: Yes, we have again this phrase about all the diversity of religions. “Religions” means all religions. This expression, all religions are called but not to conversion. The problem of this phrase is that the only one true religion is the Catholic faith but here it’s simply put on the same level of all religions to become fraternal expressions of God’s will.

But God’s will is that all people convert and believe in his incarnated son, Jesus Christ. This is the will of God. And now they declare here that the will of God will consist in simply having some natural (not supernatural) fraternity which simply contributes to our earthly welfare and without conversion, without the view of eternity.

This is a pure expression of relativism, of a very cunning form of denial of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the uniqueness of the Catholic faith as expressed by the will of God. This is another form of enormous relativisation.

This is a betrayal of Christ. This is nothing other than the pretext of a simply earthly, naturalistic fraternity.

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“This cannot be accepted and continue, this must be explicitly corrected, because this is against divine law,” said Schneider.

Ebb tide, Bishop Schneider’s critique refers to the 2019 Abu Dhabi Document. Pope Francis himself publicly addressed and clarified this exact concern during an audience on April 3, 2019:

• The Pope explicitly clarified that God's permit of diverse religions pertains to His permissive will (allowing human freedom), just as God permits evil or error, not His positive will (which wills that all people come to the knowledge of the truth in Jesus Christ).
• Catholic doctrine remains absolute: Christ is the sole Redeemer, and the Church holds the fullness of truth (Dominus Iesus). Promoting peaceful coexistence in human society does not equate to theological indifferentism.

The Argentine bishops’ pastoral guidelines (promulgated in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis) do not endorse sin, approve adultery, or alter divine law. They reiterate standard Catholic moral theology:

• Objective grave matter remains unchanged.
• Subjective culpability must be evaluated in individual cases according to the constant doctrine on full knowledge and deliberate consent (Catechism of the Catholic Church §1735).

Catechism §1735 explicitly states that personal imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by factors like ignorance, severe psychological pressure, fear, habit, or complex social constraints (e.g., when separating or withholding affection would destroy the upbringing of innocent children).

Quite frankly, if you asked me that about Pope Francis I would not be sure.

Pope Leo on the other hand does nit deserve the brickbats tossed at him for whatthe media says he says (which in nearly all cases is not what he said and in the rest a distortion or snippet out of context). Leo is not Francie

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