Pope Francis calls ‘sinner’ to tell her she can take Communion
OM P Pope Francis has reportedly phoned a woman allegedly living in sin” with a divorced man to tell her that she was free to take Holy ommunion, in another move seen as a departure from the atholic teaching, the J S reported on Wednesday.
he woman identified as acqui isbona, who hails from rgentina, wrote to Pope Francis to tell him that she had been refused ommunion by her local priest, who ob ected to the fact that she was married to a divorced man.
Prohibited from marrying in church, the couple had instead opted for a civil ceremony. he priest told me that every time I went home, I was going back to living in sin,” she told the J S .
nder existing church laws, isbona is barred from taking ommunion because she married a divorced man and was therefore a sinner” and did not marry in a church.
In her letter, isbona was bothered that if she did take ommunion she would be violating church rules.” ccording to the
J S , Pope Francis is known for calling ordinary atholics out of the blue in response to the letters they have sent. nd on aster unday, he decided to call isbona at her home in the central region of anta Fe.
Pope Francis reportedly told her divorcee who takes ommunion is not doing anything wrong.”
In a rebuke to the local priest who refused her the acrament, he added here are some priests who are more papist than the Pope.”
When asked whether the remarks attributed to the Pope were correct, a atican spokesman told
J S We would neither confirm nor deny that this was a private telephone call made by the Holy Father and we would not divulge the details.”
But the reported remarks were in line with the position taken by the Pope in recent months that the church should treat divorcees and their partners with more compassion.