Did Pope Francis tell an Argentinian woman, married to a divorced man, she can take communion? That is the claim being made by the San Lorenzo resident and it has landed the Holy Father in trouble.
The teaching of the Catholic church is clear. If a practicing Catholic is divorced and remarried, h/she is banned from taking communion, what Catholics believe is the body and blood of Jesus Christ, unless there’s an annulment.
According to the report, Pope Francis did one of his now-famous cold calls and spoke to Jaqui Lisbona, who is married to a man who was previously divorced. She says her and the Pontiff spoke for about 10-minutes.
The Vatican confirmed the call took place, but didn’t comment on what was said, or if Pope Francis actually told Lisbona that she could take communion saying, “It’s between the Pope and the woman.”
A Vatican spokesman said media reports about Pope Francis’ cold calls have been “a source of misunderstanding and confusion”.
“Consequences relating to the teaching of the Church are not to be inferred from these occurrences,” he said.
For Lisbona, who considers herself and her husband staunch Catholics, the situation was heartbreaking because the last time she received communion was last year and the local priest denied her the Eucharist and told her she couldn’t go to confession.
The woman was told she was “resuming a life of sin” and she did not know who to turn to for help. Then one day she wrote a letter to Pope Francis expressing her concerns about “violating church rules” and sent it to the Vatican in the hopes he would understand:
“I wrote to him because he’s Argentinean, he listens to people and I believe in miracles,” she said.
This past Monday the phone rang and her husband answered the man claiming to be Father Bergoglio, Pope Francis I:
“My husband asked, ‘Who’s calling?’ The voice replied, ‘Father Bergoglio.’ I asked him if it was really him, the Pope, and he said it was and that he was calling in response to my letter dated in September.”
What Pope Francis allegedly said next is what landed him in hot water with church theologians and traditionalists. According to the Vatican Insider , Lisbona claims the Holy Father told her there was “no problem” with her receiving the Eucharist and he “was dealing” with the issue on his side.
“He said my letter was useful in helping him address this issue (…) Then he told me there are some priests who are more papist than the pope.”
If true, the statement follows several other controversial comments from Pope Francis , who many see as a reformist and more tolerant of those marginalized than many of his predecessors.
[Image via giulio napolitano / Shutterstock.com ]
