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Another Catholic Bastion Ready To Fall - Divorced & 'Remarried' Communion - Pray it does not happen

Rorate has posted an article concerning communion for the 'remarried'.

Much to pray and do penance for ...

P^3


Rorate Caeli




Dramatic times for Catholic Dogma on Marriage
-Leaked: Exclusive for Il Foglio
-Kasper's peroration for communion for "remarried" divorcees 
-De Mattei's response

We live in dramatic times for the integrity of Catholic dogma — the most dramatic since the Pontifical Commission for Studies on Birth Control of 1963-1966 leaked its favorable report and placed Paul VI into a corner, from which his pontificate barely survived with the publication of the most disobeyed papal document in history, Humanae Vitae.

Several times since the Council, the enemies of truth and dogma have tried to force the issue of communion for "remarried" divorcees, a magnificent coup for, in the name of a false notion of "mercy", destroying the theology of two of the most fundamental Sacraments, Matrimony and Penance, and cheapen the highest Sacrament, the Most Holy Eucharist.

They do not care that the matter has been firmly established throughout the History of the Church. They do not care that the Pope they now praise as "Santo, Santo" explained thoroughly why it could not happen, following a Synod, in Familiaris Consortio:

However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage. Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they "take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples." (Familiaris Consortio, 84)

They do not care that the same Pope placed it, as he rightly should considering its 2000-year-old continuous defense by the Church, inside the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1650).

Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" (Mk 10:11-12) the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.

They do not care if, after forcing the issue once more in the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, Pope Benedict XVI gave them a final rebuke, reminding that he confirmed "the Church's practice, based on Sacred Scripture (cf. Mk 10:2- 12), of not admitting the divorced and remarried to the sacraments, since their state and their condition of life objectively contradict the loving union of Christ and the Church signified and made present in the Eucharist." (Sacramentum Caritatis, 20)

Cardinal Kasper was called by the current pope as the sole speaker in the pre-consistory reunions (earlier post on matterhere), once again using the argument of "mercy" and supposed "ancient practices" (that the Church of Rome never accepted — including "blessing" a second marriage that would not be a "sacrament" but lived as "penance", though with all benefits of a legitimate marriage — to introduce this revolutionary dogma-destroying practice in the Catholic Church.

But the Vatican refused to make public this Magisterium-shattering document, the lecture of Cardinal Kasper to the Pope and his fellow Cardinals. Italian daily newspaper Il Foglio solved the mystery today and released the whole paper, that can be found here, in Italian.

In the last page, Prof. Roberto de Mattei, recalling that Fr. Lombardi, the Holy See spokesman, said on the day of the lecture that the Pope's words and Cardinal Kasper's are "in grande sintonia" (in great harmony), offers a long analysis of the grave stakes involved. He concludes:

The position of the Church is unequivocal. Communion to remarried divorcees is denied because matrimony is indissoluble and none of the reasons adopted by Cardinal Kasper allows for the celebration of a new matrimony or the blessing of a pseudo-matrimonial union. The Church did not allow it to Henry VIII, losing [for this reason] the Kingdom of England, and will never allow it, because, as Pius XII recalled to the parish priests of Rome on March 16, 1946: "The matrimony between baptized, validly contracted and consumated, cannot be dissolved by any power on earth, not even by the Supreme Church Authority." That is, not even by the Pope, and even less by cardinal Kasper.

May Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, and the Holy Carthusian Martyrs — who did not give their lives in vain for the dogma of the indissolubility of Marriage and all its sacramental consequences, and the Supreme Authority of the Roman Pontiff — pray for the Lord's Church in these extremely dramatic times, so that the rock will remain firm and unassailable.

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