Pope Francis: Divorced Catholics Who Remarry Should Be Treated Better By The Church

Pope Francis said divorced Catholics who choose to remarry should be treated better by the Church, in a recent public appearance at the Vatican.

The remarks are once again raising eyebrows in the more conservative wings of the Catholic Church, as it does not recognize civil divorce. However, this is not the first time Pope Francis has touched on the topic in regards to practicing Catholics. In June, he said that divorce is “sometimes morally necessary” to protect the children.

Pope Francis said divorced parents and their children deserve better treatment from the Church on Wednesday. Additionally, the Holy Father encouraged pastors to stop treating these families as if they were excommunicated.

In many instances, pastors deny communion and other sacraments to people who are divorced, but the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encourages those who choose to separate to actively participate in all the sacraments.

“We encourage divorced persons who wish to marry in the Catholic Church to seek counsel about the options that exist to remedy their situation, including the suitability of a declaration of nullity when there is no longer any hope of reconciliation of the spouses.”

The belief is that those married in the Church do so in front of God and enter into a union which is indissoluble. Furthermore, those who get divorced and later remarry are living in sin, according to conservative Catholic beliefs.

However, Pope Francis said divorced Catholics should not be shunned by the Church during an audience with tourists and pilgrims, after a short summer vacation.

“How do we take care of those who, following the irreversible failing of their family bond made a new union?

People who started a new union after the defeat of their sacramental marriage are not at all excommunicated, and they absolutely must not be treated that way. They always belong to the church.

…with an example of convinced and practiced faith, if we keep them (the parents) far from the community life (of the church) as if they were excommunicated?”

Pope Francis encouraged pastors to include divorced Catholics and “not to add additional weight beyond what the children in this situation have to bear. Unfortunately the numbers of these children and young people are truly great.”

Pope Francis also said the Church needs to make a distinction “between who underwent the separation in respect to what provoked it.”

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