Pope advocates flexibility, tolerance and compassion
VATICAN CITY — Defining his mission to create a more merciful church, Pope Francis published a much-anticipated exhortation on love and marriage Friday, easing the way for divorced and remarried Catholics to rejoin the faith but reiterating limits on gay unions and the ban on contraception and abortion.
The 260-page document, the product of several years of debate within the Roman Catholic hierarchy, advocates for flexibility, tolerance and compassion in the church. But it may disappoint Francis’ legions of liberal fans looking for doctrinal change.
“By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth,” the pope wrote. “Let us remember that ‘a small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order.’”
More inclusive
As he enters the fourth year of his papacy, Francis, the first pontiff from the Americas, has struck a sharp contrast to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, by calling for a more inclusive church. He has traveled to the poorest slums and violent prisons on four continents, washed the feet of Muslims during Easter ceremonies and excoriated the rich and powerful for their greed and neglect.
The guidelines released Friday continued that theme, treading a line that is not always predictable. In some areas, he pushes boundaries, while in others he hews to traditional teachings.
The document represents Francis’ final word on a host of family- and life-related issues that were debated at two synods at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015.
‘The Joy of Love’
Titled “Amoris Laetitia,” Latin for “The Joy of Love,” the Apostolic Exhortation gives some wiggle room on granting Communion to remarried divorcees — a hot-button issue that divides Catholic conservatives and progressives and is of special interest to American Catholics.
Currently, the church officially excludes remarried divorced Catholics from Communion because it sees their first marriage as still valid, meaning the person is living in sin.
Francis states bluntly that “divorce is an evil” but adds, “It is important that the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church. They are not excommunicated and they should not be treated as such, since they remain part of the ecclesial community.”
Their exclusion “can be surmounted,” he says, adding that local priests and bishops can work with such couples to that end. He appears to leave the door open to bishops to offer Communion on a case-by-case basis.
No rule change
“Is the pope changing the rules? No,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke. “But does he leave daylight? Yes. There is an attitude of welcome.”
On gay unions, Francis is less ambivalent: “De facto or same-sex unions, for example, may not simply be equated with marriage. ... No union that is temporary or closed to the transmission of life can ensure the future of society.”
Francis is equally forthright on abortion: “So great is the value of a human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the mother’s womb, that no alleged right to one’s own body can justify a decision to terminate that life, which is an end in itself and which can never be considered the ‘property’ of another human being.”
Going further, he quotes synod documents which state that “those who work in health care facilities are reminded of the moral duty of conscientious objection,” and adds that “the Church strongly rejects the forced State intervention in favor of contraception, sterilization and even abortion. Such measures are unacceptable even in places with high birth rates, yet also in countries with disturbingly low birth rates we see politicians encouraging them.”
The document dwells at length on how to shore up the institution of marriage, offering guidance on how to build a loving family with tips on forgiveness, patience and sex.