It’s no secret that the institution of marriage is in crisis. Divorce, spousal abandonment, trial marriages, cohabitation, contraception, abortion, out-of-wedlock children, civil unions, homosexual “marriage”—the problems are myriad, and to help deal with them, Pope Francis has called for two crucial meetings of bishops.
This type of meeting, known as a “synod of bishops,” calls a selection of bishops from around the world to consider important issues facing the Church. One such synod took place in October 2014, and another will meet in October 2015. In preparation for both, the pope urged the bishops to think creatively about ways to help families today, and many proposals have been made.
One proposal has attracted a lot of attention, because it appears to contradict the Church’s historic teaching and practice on marriage. The concerns raised by the proposal are so serious that cardinals—including some close to Pope Francis—have been arguing with each other in the news media.
A change in teaching?
Put basically, it is the idea that Catholics who have divorced and remarried without an annulment should, in some circumstances, be admitted to Holy Communion without being required to live chastely.
The Church teaches that a valid, consummated marriage between two Christians cannot be dissolved by anything but death. As a result, if a person who has been married obtains a civil divorce and then wishes to remarry, the Church must look at the first marriage to see if it was valid. If it was valid, the person is not able to marry someone else. To attempt to do so will result in the person living in a state of ongoing adultery. Like anyone who engages in unrepented grave sin, those who engage in unrepentant adultery are not eligible to receive Communion.
The new proposal appears to contradict the Church’s teaching by allowing those who are committing ongoing adultery without true repentance to receive Communion.
Not a new proposal
Some theologians began discussing this type of proposal after the Second Vatican Council, and it was discussed at the 1980 Synod of Bishops, which was also on the topic of the family. Pope St. John Paul II rejected the proposal in his encyclical Familiaris Consortio following the 1980 synod but expressed deep pastoral concern for people in this situation:
I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church. . . . They should be encouraged to listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts in favor of justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith. . . . Let the Church pray for them, encourage them and show herself a merciful mother, and thus sustain them in faith and hope (84).
In July 1993, three German bishops—Archbishop Oskar Saier, Bishop Karl Lehmann, and Bishop Walter Kasper—published a pastoral letter advocating Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)—the Vatican department charged with maintaining doctrinal integrity—then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), responded with a letter to the world’s bishops that reiterated Church teaching (Letter Concerning the Reception of Holy Communion by the Divorced and Remarried Members of the Faithful, Sept. 14, 1994).
A split among cardinals
Currently, the most prominent advocate of the position is Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany. During a meeting of cardinals in February 2014, Cardinal Kasper gave a speech in which he proposed that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics be admitted to Communion in some circumstances. While others in the Church support Cardinal Kasper’s proposal, for the sake of simplicity we will refer to it as the “Kasper proposal.”
In The Gospel of the Family (Paulist Press, 2014), Cardinal Kasper framed his proposal rhetorically:
[I]f a divorced and remarried person is truly sorry that he or she failed in the first marriage, if the commitments from the first marriage are clarified and a return is definitively out of the question, if he or she cannot undo the commitments that were assumed in the second civil marriage without new guilt, if he or she strives to the best of his or her abilities to live out the second civil marriage on the basis of faith and to raise their children in the faith, if he or she longs for the sacraments as a source of strength in his or her situation, do we then have to refuse or can we refuse him or her the sacrament of penance and communion, after a period of reorientation?
Although the CDF has not issued a new document on the subject, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, head of the CDF, has personally reiterated existing Church teaching on it. One of the most vocal cardinals on the subject has been American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has made many public statements in defense of the Church’s existing teaching and practice. Australian Cardinal George Pell has also been vocal against the proposal.
Limits of the proposed change
The Kasper proposal is often presented as allowing the civilly remarried to receive Communion only in limited circumstances. According to what Cardinal Kasper proposed in The Gospel of The Family, the conditions would be:
- Sorrow for failing in the first marriage
- Returning to the previous spouse is out of the question
- Getting out of the present marriage without incurring new guilt is impossible
- Striving to live out the second, civil marriage on the basis of faith
- Striving to raise the children of the second marriage in the Faith
- Longing for the sacraments
- A period of reorientation
In essence, Cardinal Kasper is proposing to allow people to receive absolution in confession and Communion while continuing to have sex with each other, even though they are not validly married to each other and are therefore committing ongoing adultery.
Dressing up the language
But the proponents of change put it in terms that sound better. They suggest they are upholding Christ’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage by affirming the impossibility of contracting a second, sacramental marriage while the first partner is still alive. (This affirmation is good, but, as we will see, it is not by itself sufficient to uphold the Church’s teaching.)
They say the change would provide mercy for those seeking healing. This is not a proposal to change the Church’s doctrine, they say; it will only help guide people toward a full acceptance of the Church’s teachings in their lives.
They point out that there are positive elements to second, civil marriages that may qualify them as some kind of valid marriage. These include things like the affection the parties have for each other; the happiness they experience; the commitment they have made to support each other in difficult times; the fact that they bring new children into the world; and the affection and care they provide their children, including educating them in the Faith.
And, indeed, civil marriages may have such positive qualities; but so may the relationships of people who are living in open adultery, without the legal fiction provided by a civil marriage. The fact that a relationship has positive qualities does not mean that it is morally licit.
In fact, every sinful relationship—and every sinful act—has positive qualities, or people would not engage in them. Sin is a distortion of something good, and it is these distorted but positive qualities that make it attractive. These same qualities can help people rationalize their sins and continue to engage in them.
The key question
Is it possible for a person who has a sacramental first marriage to contract a new marriage that is valid but non-sacramental while the first spouse is alive?
The answer is no. To help cut through the confusion, let’s define the relevant terms:
- A sacramental marriage is the only kind of marriage that can exist between two baptized people. Thus, the Code of Canon Law states that “a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the baptized without it being by that fact a sacrament” (can. 1055 §2).
- A natural marriage is valid but not sacramental. For a natural marriage to exist, one or both parties must be unbaptized.
- A valid marriage is genuine, authentic, or real. It can be sacramental or natural, depending on whether both parties are baptized.
- An invalid marriage is not genuine, authentic, or real. As a result, it is neither sacramental nor natural, because it has no objective reality.
- A civil marriage is contracted before the civil (state) authorities. It can be valid or invalid, depending on the circumstances.
The scenario we are considering is one in which a Catholic has contracted a valid marriage with someone, gotten divorced, and then contracted a civil marriage with someone else. What is the status of this marriage?
The Catholic’s first marriage is valid. It may be either sacramental or natural, depending on whether the other spouse was baptized, but it is valid either way. As a result, it is a real, genuine marriage, and the Catholic is not free to marry someone else if the first spouse is alive. If the Catholic attempts to do so, the new marriage will be invalid, and the parties will be living in an objectively adulterous situation.
One cannot say that the new marriage may not be sacramental but that it is still a marriage. It is not. If you are validly married to one person, you cannot marry someone else while the first partner is alive. Even if the state allows you to contract a civil marriage, this new marriage will not be valid. It will be a legal fiction, and any act of sex in it will be adultery.
Teaching would change
And yet Cardinal Kasper seems to be saying something different. In an interview with Catholic News Service, he spoke of couples who have contracted a second, civil marriage:
They love each other, and to say every sexual act is sinful, that’s different. . . . If you tell people who live in this way, and they do it in a responsible way, tell them that [they are in] adultery, permanent adultery, I think they would feel insulted and offended. We must be very careful also in our language. To say you are living in a permanent adultery? It seems to me too strong (“Cardinal Kasper on sex and second unions,” posted on YouTube.com).
Even if the Kasper proposal does not require a change in the Church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, it would require a change in the Church’s teaching in at least one of the following three areas:
- The gravely sinful nature of sexual relations with someone that you are not married to (CCC 2400; cf. 2380-2381)
- The need to repent of one’s sins, including “the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future,” to be validly absolved in confession (CCC 1451; cf. 1490-1491)
- The need to be in a state of grace to receive Communion (CCC 1385)
If having sexual relations in a second, civil marriage is adulterous, then such relations are gravely sinful. If they are gravely sinful, they need to be repented of in order to be absolved in confession so that one can return to a state of grace. If they are not repented of, then one committing them is not in a state of grace and so cannot receive Communion.
The Kasper proposal thus requires the belief that sexual relations in a second, civil marriage are not gravely sinful, that one does not have to repent of grave sin to be absolved, that one does not need to be in a state of grace to receive Communion, or some combination of these.
The issue’s present state
The first of the two synods that Pope Francis called for on the subject of the family took place in October 2014. Presently, the bishops are preparing for the second synod in October 2015. Although not all of the world’s bishops will attend the synod, they have been asked to provide input by April 15.
After the issue is discussed further at the October 2015 synod of bishops, Pope Francis will make the final determination on it. The synod has a role in advising him, but all decisions are made by the pope himself.
So what can the people in the pews do? There are at least three things:
- Become informed on the issue
- Pray about the issue, and pray for the bishops specifically
- Give your bishop your sense of the issue
The Kasper proposal is a serious issue affecting the life of the Church. Like all such issues, it needs to be brought before God in prayer, through Mass intentions, rosaries, novenas, and other devotions, as well as through spontaneous prayers.
Since St. Joseph is the patron of families, prayer for his intercession would be particularly appropriate. Since all decisions on this matter ultimately rest with the pope, the successor of St. Peter, prayers to St. Peter would also be particularly appropriate.
How you can help
It is the right—indeed, the responsibility—of the faithful to respectfully let their spiritual leaders know their minds. You can share your sense of this issue with your bishop by writing him. His contact information will be found on your diocese’s website. Catholic Answers has a page where you can look up your bishop’s address and website at catholic.com/bishops.
It is important, when you share your sense of the issue, that you do so with the “reverence toward their pastors” for which the Code of Canon Law calls. Your bishop is your spiritual father, and he deserves the respect that a father does. Be polite, assure him of your prayers and good will, and share your sense of this issue in a calm and respectful way.