Pope Francis and scholars clash over Church’s new stand on divorce

In 2005, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide Pope Francis wrote a controversial letter that touched on marriage, divorce and homosexuality.

In the letter titled The Joy of Love, he appeared to suggest that those divorced and remarried should be accommodated in the church.

The Pope suggested that divorced persons should also be allowed to take the Holy Communion. This did not go down well with some clergymen.

For years, a number of clergymen and scholars tried to reach out to the Pope to make corrections to that letter in vain.

Now a few weeks ago, 62 scholars and clergymen went public and demanded a ‘correction’ to the Pope’s letter.

The 25-page letter from the clergy and scholars was made public on September 22.

The scholars in their lengthy letter in Latin seen as a ‘filial correction’ or a ‘correction’ say Pope Francis’ words and actions risk leading Catholics into false doctrines.

“With profound grief, but moved by fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, by love for the Church and for the papacy, and by filial devotion toward yourself, we are compelled to address a correction to Your Holiness on account of the propagation of heresies effected by the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and by other words, deeds and omissions of Your Holiness,” the signers write in the letter.

“We issue this correction, rather, to protect our fellow Catholics — and those outside the Church, from whom the key of knowledge must not be taken away — hoping to prevent the further spread of doctrines which tend of themselves to the profaning of all the sacraments and the subversion of the Law of God,” they add.

Holy Communion

But a Kenyan clergy has defended the Pope’s words.

“The Pope’s letter is a reflection of bishops worldwide and not just from Pope Francis alone,” said Right Reverend Bishop Joseph Obanyi, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kakamega.

“It does not change the teachings of the church as the 62 scholars have put it.”

Bishop Obanyi who is a Canon lawyer said the letter was written after careful study of what is happening today in the family.

“The letter is reality of our situation today where many families have broken down. The church cannot just sit and observe but rather must address the situation in practical terms.”

The correction to the Pope’s teaching is the second since 1333.

No similar action has taken place within the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages, when Pope John XXII was admonished for errors which he later recanted on his deathbed.

The 25-page letter bears the signatures of sixty-two Catholic academics, researchers, and scholars in various fields from 20 countries.

None of the signatories of the new letter is a Cardinal, and the highest-ranking churchman listed is actually someone whose organisation has no legal standing in the Catholic Church: Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the breakaway Society of St Pius X.

Cardinals are the second-highest ranking leaders after the Pope. As of September 9, 2017, there were 220 cardinals, 5,000 bishops in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

They aver that Pope Francis’ teachings supported heretical positions about marriage, the moral life, and the Eucharist that are causing a host of “heresies and other errors” to spread throughout the Catholic Church.

Divorced person

The Holy Communion is one of the Seven Sacraments in the Catholic Church where the faithful symbolically, ‘eat and drink the blood of Jesus’.

According to the church teachings, to receive Holy Communion worthily, you must be in a state of grace, have made a good confession since your last mortal sin, believe in transubstantiation, observe the Eucharistic fast.

This teaching the scholars point out are found in the New Testament according to 1 Corinthians 11:27–28.

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

A mortal sin is any sin whose matter is grave and which has been committed will fully and with knowledge of its seriousness. Grave matter includes, but is not limited to, murder, receiving or participating in an abortion, homosexual acts, having sexual intercourse outside of marriage or in an invalid marriage, and deliberately engaging in impure thoughts.

Divorce is a mortal sin which does not therefore permit one to receive Holy communion.

This is an absolute requirement among the Catholic faithful’s, which can never be dispensed.

To receive the Eucharist without sanctifying grace in your soul profanes it in the most grievous manner.

And so to the scholars, a divorced person is not allowed to receive Holy Communion based on the teaching and meaning of this passage.

For Pope Francis to encourage divorced persons to be allowed to partake of the Holy Communion is troubling.

Many have interpreted this to mean that civilly divorced-and-remarried Catholics living in adultery can also receive Holy Communion.

The group says while they do not accuse the Pope of the sin of heresy, his actions have helped doctrinal errors to spread.