The Pope and Divorce...

I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal titled: THE POPE AND THE DIVORCE QUESTION by Francis X. Rocca (Sept. 26, 2014). 

Recently, the pope made history (of sorts) when he married 20 couples at the Vatican with some of the couples being not perfect Catholic couples. Some already had children, some already lived together…in other words, they had sex before getting married; a church no no.

I think people realize that this pope is trying to bring the Catholic Church in-line with the reality that is our society and in so doing make the church more relevant to the needs of its members instead of having its teachings basically ignored.

To me what the pope is trying to do is desperately needed if the church is to continue to play a role in people’s lives. 

The problem, in many cases, is the teachings or doctrines of the church; they need to be changed or altered and yet no pope is willing to do that since the church will appear to be wishy-washy in its pronouncements but that is how it appears today anyway; no more purgatory, cremation OK, etc.

Pope Paul VI had an opportunity in 1968 to set a historic precedent in changing teachings by following the suggestions of many bishops as well as the Catholic population to allow artificial birth control (contraception) and yet he declined to modernize the church’s views and teachings by issuing his encyclical “Humane Vitae” which reaffirmed the ban on contraception which exists to this very day and makes absolutely no sense in today’s world.

Francis is in the process of canonizing Paul VI and so there is no way he would reverse or alter the teaching of Paul’s encyclical; this pope does appear willing to change the attitude of the church to societal realities but will not reverse age old teachings even when they contradict new scientific evidence and/or overall societal attitudes.

Divorce is a very common reality in our society and in the United States the number is 50% where 50% of all marriages end in divorce. 

For Catholics that want to remain true to their faith a civil divorce does not count in the eyes of the church; you need to get an annulment to be truly unmarried and allowed to remarry; otherwise you are committing adultery with your new spouse and cannot accept or be given communion.

Francis understands the realities of divorce among Catholics and wants communion made available to them as a form of “mercy” but to do that he would have to defy the ban on communion to those living in sin?

Francis did establish a commission tasked with easing the rules of marriage annulment which when granted, deems a marriage was not valid in the first place and therefore can be annulled. The pope has said that half of Catholic marriages are probably invalid since many marry before they attain maturity.

I guess he can water down the rules for annulment to a point where everyone can get one for any reason and in this way get around the scriptural demand that all marriages be forever.

Francis is obviously dancing around this issue but he has to since the Catholic Church has painted itself into a corner on many issues of doctrine. Since the Vatican holds itself to be the messenger of god, interpreting what god wants to communicate to his people, it cannot just say they got god’s message wrong.

 I think they can admit they were wrong on some issues as they have in the past and say that new evidence has shown the error of their ways. Many in the church would never admit that and that is why I think Francis will have a rough road in trying to make the church more human (pastoral).

The pope can after all do whatever he wants; he answers only to god but all popes are very aware of their legacy and the legacies of the popes that came before them and that can influence their actions.

I admire Francis for at least addressing issues that were off the table for previous popes and I hope he can appoint enough like-minded cardinals who will then elect a like-minded pope after his death; history will definitely remember what he started.