Good For Francis, Once Again

[Mrs.PatsFanInVa]

Pope Francis has turned heads again with another controversial view. On Wednesday, in front of his weekly general audience, he said that sometimes divorce is "inevitable."

He also said, "Sometimes it can become even morally necessary, precisely when it comes to subtracting the weaker spouse, or small children, from more serious wounds caused by intimidation and violence, humiliation and exploitation."

An associate professor of moral theology told the New York Post it "...may give women trapped in violent relationships the strength to put their safety ahead of doctrine."

Francis' comments are expected to set the stage for debates at the upcoming October Synod about if, and how, the church should adjust doctrine for changing family dynamics.

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/06/...htmlws-main-bb|dl33|sec1_lnk3&pLid=-709206716

 

[everlong]

I thought this was going to be his stance on guns and was very much looking forward to our resident Catholic telling us what the catechism says about this and why Pope Francis really doesn't mean what we think he means. This will do nicely however as I'm sure that's forthcoming on this topic as well.

Not to derail your thread completely, yes bravo Francis for dragging the church into at least the 20th century and perhaps the 21st in your tenure if this trend continues.

 

[RI Patriots fan]

Sadly, most people don't understand the teachings of the church and this is just one more example.

The church allows for civil divorce (not sacramental) in certain cases. A quick glance at the catechism would enlighten anyone:

"2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law.177

If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense."



http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm



So, as you can see, Pope Francis isn't teaching anything new or contradicting the teachings of the RCC. In fact, the church goes further when it declares:


"2386 It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.179"


http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm



But a civil divorce does not in any way end a valid sacramental marriage:



"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"



http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm

 

[everlong]

Kind of silly to think after a "civil" divorce anybody is going to remain chaste for the rest of their life.