Thursday 28th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

How A Magisterial Document Was Manipulated At The Synod

January 5, 2016 Frontpage No Comments

By FR. BRIAN W. HARRISON, OS

On June 24, 2000, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (PCLT) issued a document of the utmost relevance to a controversy that is now profoundly disturbing the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, it is not at all well known. I refer to the PCLT’s “Declaration Concerning the Admission to Holy Communion of Faithful who are Divorced and Remarried.” (There is no Latin text of this document; the original was in Italian.)
The main purpose of this document was to rebut and disallow a false interpretation of c. 915 of the Code of Canon Law. This canon states: “Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion” (emphasis added).
The canon was being falsely interpreted by “progressive” canonists and theologians who were promoting an idea that has recently become much more notorious and fiercely debated as a result of the 2014 and 2015 Synods on the Family. They were arguing that the words of c. 915 italicized above should not be taken to include divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, because even though their relationship is objectively gravely sinful (our Lord himself calls it adultery), their subjective imputability (blameworthiness) at the level of their own conscience might be diminished or mitigated for one reason or another.
Therefore, according to these liberal scholars, the priest (or other minister of Communion) should always give such folks Communion if they come up for it at Mass, because he would be incompetent to make any judgment about the private state of their conscience. The priest should give them the benefit of that doubt, it was said, even when he knows they are not validly married in the sight of God and the Church.
It is clear, of course, that this kind of thinking is pretty much the same as what has popularly become known as the “Kasper proposal” since around the beginning of 2014. During the Consistory of the College of Cardinals held at that time, Walter Cardinal Kasper, at the express invitation of Pope Francis and in his presence, gave an address in which, among other things, he proposed a “penitential path” that would enable some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to be admitted to admitted to Holy Communion without making any commitment to live in continence.
While many other cardinals expressed strong criticism of this proposal, Pope Francis openly praised Kasper’s speech the following day, and has in various ways shown sympathy for his proposal during the ensuing two years. Now, after two stormy Synods of Bishops at which the German cardinal’s proposal was prominently and hotly debated, the final relatio of the 2015 Synod — a list of recommendations for the Holy Father to consider — still seems to leave this question open. The relatio’s pertinent paragraphs (nn. 84-86), which barely received the necessary two-thirds majority vote from the Synod Fathers, neither affirm nor deny that some Catholics in the aforesaid situation ought to be admitted to Communion.
Now, the relatio cites the PCLT Declaration we are discussing in this article; but, as we shall see, it does so in a very misleading way. Here is the relevant passage in n. 85 of the relatio: “[I]t cannot be denied that in some circumstances, ‘the imputability and the responsibility for an action can be diminished or annulled’ (CCC, 1735) due to psychological conditions. Consequently, the judgment on an objective situation should not lead to a judgment about ‘subjective imputability’ (Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Declaration of June 24, 2000, 2a).”
Even though the quotation marks in the last sentence are placed only around the words “subjective imputability,” section 2a of the PCLT Declaration does indeed imply the observation attributed to it by the Synod’s relatio, i.e., that from the simple fact that a person is doing something that is objectively sinful, we should not conclude without further ado that he or she is subjectively imputable (blameworthy). And that observation is true as far as it goes, for the person might lack full knowledge and/or full consent to the sin.
Why, then, do I say that this citation of the Declaration found in the Synod’s relatio is “very misleading”? Because it is highly selective and taken out of context. It conspicuously fails to tell readers the reason why the Pontifical Council found it necessary to raise this question of diminished subjective imputability.
It did so only in the context of rejecting the aforesaid claim of liberal Catholics that because priests and other ministers of Communion can’t judge the subjective imputability (or non-imputability) of the sin committed by civilly remarried divorcees, such folks should be given Communion whenever they come forward for it at Mass.
This becomes evident as soon as we look at the original context of the words cited in n. 85 of the Synod’s relatio. The Pontifical Council is here handing down an official, authentic interpretation of the words “grave sin” in c. 915, and says that this term is to be “understood objectively, because the minister of Communion would not be able to make a judgment regarding subjective imputability” (“…inteso oggettivamente, perché dell’imputabilità soggettiva il ministro della Comunione non potrebbe giudicare”) (PCLT Declaration, section 2a).
In other words, the Church has ruled here that, provided the other conditions mentioned in c. 915 for refusing Communion are also present (as they would be in the case of those we are considering), sacramental ministers should refuse Communion to civilly remarried divorcees because of the objective gravity of their sin, irrespective of whether or not it is subjectively imputable before God in the private forum of their conscience.
We can see now that the prelates responsible for drafting the 2015 final relatio not only failed to give the other Synod Fathers any indication that this PCLT Declaration thereby delivers a knock-out blow to the Kasper proposal; they manipulated the Declaration in such a way as to make it gently insinuate support for that proposal! For their selective quotation hints, — more by way of what it omits than by what it cites — that diminished subjective imputability just might open a possible path to Communion for some civilly remarried divorcees.
In fact, as we have just seen, the Declaration has ruled that in this situation it is irrelevant whether their objectively adulterous relationship is subjectively imputable or not: for even if it’s not imputable, they are still to be refused Holy Communion.
The Pontifical Council’s reasoning here is that since the marital status of civilly remarried divorcees is a matter of public knowledge (unlike, say, a couple’s use of contraceptives, or a man’s furtive nocturnal visits to a “gay” bathhouse), they must be refused Communion even if they are subjectively blameless in their own conscience, because admitting them would still cause scandal.
If the Church started officially admitting to Holy Communion Catholics who publicly disobeyed her in this way, she would thereby send a message that she doesn’t really take very seriously her own teaching that remarriage after divorce is gravely sinful. Her laxity would thereby tempt and lead others to enter similar sinful relationships. (That is precisely the theological meaning of the word “scandal.”)
Moreover, as the Declaration points out, such an interpretation of c. 915 would in “effect empty [its words] of their substance” (n. 2), because it would logically apply to all other Catholics living in publicly sinful situations. Since only God knows for sure the subjective state of other people’s consciences, admitting remarried divorcees to Communion on a subjectivist, “benefit-of-the-doubt” basis would imply showing the same false “mercy” to cohabiting couples, homosexual couples, polygamists, “polyamorists,” mafia dons, and virtually any other public sinners who choose to call themselves Catholic.
Since the relevant words of c. 915 would thus end up applying to nobody at all, the PCLT points out that this permissive interpretation of the canon makes it absurd, and is therefore incorrect.
The liberal-leaning majority in the commission that drafted the 2015 Synod’s relatio probably realized they could scarcely ignore altogether this 2000 Vatican Declaration that was so uncongenial to their own more “merciful” aspirations; so they apparently decided to give it a nod, quoting it selectively and misleadingly, and hoping nobody would notice.
In fact, the Synod Fathers had to vote very hurriedly, at the last minute, on each of the final relatio’s 94 paragraphs. All of them were read out (in Italian, with simultaneous translations) on the morning of October 24, 2015, only a few hours before the Synod was scheduled to end. So the Fathers certainly had no opportunity to look up the PCLT Declaration cited so disingenuously in n. 85 of the relatio.
To put it bluntly, they were deceived into supposing that this little-known but important Vatican Declaration does not rule out a change in sacramental discipline that in fact it does rule out — totally, explicitly, and unambiguously.
Moreover, this 2000 Declaration not only asserts the “impossibility” of Communion for civilly remarried divorcees (section 5); it also makes the extremely important assertion that this prohibition, “found in the cited canon [c. 915], is by its nature derived from divine law and transcends the domain of positive ecclesiastical laws: the latter cannot introduce legislative changes which would oppose the doctrine of the Church” (section 1).
And precisely because divine law is at stake here, the document insists that no exceptions can be made: “Bearing in mind the nature of the above-cited norm (cfr. n. 1), no ecclesiastical authority may dispense the minister of Holy Communion from this obligation in any case, nor may he issue directives that contradict it” (section 4).
If the Synod Fathers had been more fully and accurately informed about the content of this PCLT Declaration, it seems certain that paragraph 85, which only barely managed to garner the required two-thirds majority of votes, would have failed to reach that level of acceptance. The most ambiguous and objectionable paragraph of the relatio would thus have been rightly relegated to the dustbin.
At a time when not a few bishops, cardinals, and theologians are confidently assuring us that a change in the bimillennial discipline in question would leave the Church’s doctrine fully intact, it seems very important that all Catholics become aware that the Church has already firmly rejected that idea.
In the year 2000 she declared the exclusion of civilly remarried divorcees from Communion to be a consequence of divine law, so that any supposedly “merciful” mitigation of this discipline “would oppose the doctrine of the Church.”
We must hope and pray fervently that His Holiness Pope Francis, in preparing his post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, becomes fully cognizant of this fact.

Addendum:

Readers can see for themselves what the Synod Fathers were not given the opportunity to see on that critical October morning. The English version of the 2000 PCLT Declaration is on the Vatican website at: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/intrptxt/documents/rc_pc_intrptxt_doc_20000706_declaration_en.html
However, another word of warning is necessary here. One section of this English translation is so garbled and inaccurate that it gives the impression of allowing the Kasper proposal! It seems to say that remarried divorcees who don’t live in full continence are not in a “situation of serious habitual sin.” The Vatican’s translation says this:
“Those faithful who are divorced and remarried would not be considered to be within the situation of serious habitual sin who would not be able, for serious motives — such as, for example, the upbringing of the children — ‘to satisfy the obligation of separation, assuming the task of living in full continence, that is, abstaining from the acts proper to spouses’ (Familiaris consortio, n. 84), and who on the basis of that intention have received the sacrament of Penance.”
Now, here is the Italian original of that passage:
“Non si trovano invece in situazione di peccato grave abituale i fedeli divorziati risposati che, non potendo per seri motivi — quali, ad esempio, l’educazione dei figli — ‘soddisfare l’obbligo della separazione, assumono l’impegno di vivere in piena continenza, cioè di astenersi dagli atti propri dei coniugi’ (Familiaris consortio, n. 84), e che sulla base di tale proposito hanno ricevuto il sacramento della Penitenza.”
A correct translation of the above — changing the syntax somewhat for clarity in English — would be as follows:
“However, there are divorced and remarried Catholics who for serious reasons — for example, raising their children — are unable to ‘fulfil the obligation of separating,’ but who ‘take up the commitment to live in complete continence, that is, to abstain from the acts proper to spouses’ (Familiaris consortio, n. 84), and who on the basis of that intention have received the sacrament of Penance. Such Catholics are not in a situation of habitual grave sin.”

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)