270 THE DIVORCED AND REMARRIED CONTINUE TO BELONG TO THE CHURCH

YOUCAT Lesson 270

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

270  What is the Church’s stance on people who are divorced and remarried?

She accepts them lovingly, following Jesus’ example.  Anyone who divorces after being married in the Church and then during the lifetime of the spouse enters into a new union obviously contradicts Jesus’ clear demand for the indissolubility of marriage.  The Church cannot abolish this demand.  This retraction of fidelity is contrary to the Eucharist, in which it is precisely the irrevocable character of God’s love that the Church celebrates.  That is why someone who lives in such a contradictory situation is not admitted to Holy Communion. [1665, 2384]

Artwork: …..It is in the Eucharist, in which is found the irrevocable character of God’s love, that the Church cannot deny Jesus’ clear demand for the indissolubility of marriage. (Compare Sacramentum Caritatis, 29) …..270

Far from treating all specific cases alike, Pope Benedict XVI speaks about “painful situations” and calls on pastors “to discern different situations carefully, in order to be able to offer appropriate spiritual guidance to the faithful involved” (Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, 29).

“Yet the divorced and remarried continue to belong to the Church, which accompanies them with special concern and encourages them to live as fully as possible the Christian life through regular participation in the Mass, albeit without receiving communion, listening to the word of God, Eucharistic adoration, prayer, participation in the life of the community, honest dialogue with a priest or spiritual director, dedication to the life of charity, works of penance, and commitment to the education of their children.  Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 29

“No one is without a family in this world:  the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially those who ‘labor and are heavily laden’”, --Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio

VI. THE DOMESTIC CHURCH

IN BRIEF

…….1665   The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

Divorce

…….2384   Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:

If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself.(St. Basil, Moralia 73,1:Patrologia Graeca 31,849-852.)¹⁷⁸ --CCC