Pope Francis on Wednesday said he could see "no easy solution" for the situation of the divorced and remarried in the Catholic Church.
Speaking at his first public audience for a month, he returned to his catechesis on the family in view of the forthcoming October Synod on the Family.
The pope addressed the issue of those “brothers and sisters who have divorced and entered a second union”, saying: “Though their unions are contrary to the Sacrament of marriage, the Church, as a Mother, seeks the good and salvation of all her children.
“As these situations especially affect children, we are aware of a greater urgency to foster a true welcome for these families in our communities...
“There is no easy solution for these situations, but we can and must always encourage these families to participate in the church’s life, through prayer, listening to the Word of God, the Christian education of their children, and service to the poor.”
Debating points
The pope made no reference to the forthcoming synod, but it is no secret that the issue of denying the sacrament of the Eucharist to the divorced and remarried will be one of the major debating points at what may well be a crucial gathering, in the context of the Francis pontificate.
While the synod is unlikely to recommend any doctrinal changes, it could see further heated debate about the correct pastoral approach to the divorced and remarried, to single-parent families, to homosexuals as well as a call to speed up the church’s own marriage annulment process.
Wednesday’s statement by Pope Francis seems to leave all possibilities regarding divorced and remarried persons open.
In that sense, the pope is reflecting the synod’s “Instrument Laboris” (basic agenda), which clearly outlines both sides of the debate.
On the one hand, the Instrumentum points out how “various synod fathers insisted on maintaining the present discipline, because of the constitutive relationship between participation in the Eucharist and communion with the church as well as her teaching on the indissoluble character of marriage”.
On the other hand, however, the Instrumentum says that “others proposed a more individualised approach, permitting access in certain situations and with certain well-defined conditions...Access to the sacraments might take place if preceded by a penitential practice, determined by the diocesan bishop.”
In a small moment of understatement, the Instrumentum concludes that “the subject needs to be thoroughly examined...”
During his recent pastoral visit to Latin America, the pope did seem to suggest that he would like “concrete solutions” to family problems to emerge from the synod. Speaking in Guayaguil, Ecuador he called on people “to pray fervently” so that “what might seem to us impure...or threatening” be turned into “a miracle”, adding: “The family today needs this miracle.”