Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, has said that local bishops should not give “contradictory interpretations of doctrine”.
In an interview with the German magazine Rheinische Post, Cardinal Müller said it was “not my style” to criticise publications by bishops. But he added: “I do not think it is particularly beneficial for each individual bishop to comment on papal documents to explain how he subjectively understands the document.”
The bishops of Malta and Germany have issued guidelines permitting Communion for the remarried. The Maltese bishops said it might be “impossible” for some couples to avoid sex, and that people could not be refused Communion if they discerned that they were “at peace with God”.
A senior cardinal made the same argument in a book released last week. Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said remarried Catholics should have “absolution and access to the Eucharist as long as – I repeat – there is the impossibility of immediately changing the situation of sin”.
Other bishops have affirmed the teaching that the remarried cannot receive Communion except when they live “in complete continence”.
Cardinal Müller said: “It cannot be that the universally binding doctrine of the Church, formulated by the Pope, is given different and even contradictory regional interpretations.
“The basis of the Church is the unity of faith. The Church no longer experiences a new revelation.”
Later in the interview the cardinal paid tribute to Pope Francis’s “moral authority.”
French parliament approves crackdown on pro-life sites
A law has been passed in France banning pro-life websites which attempt to dissuade women from having abortions without making clear that they are pro-life.
The law was passed by the National Assembly, which has a Socialist majority, on Thursday evening. The new crime is punishable with two years in jail or a €30,000 (£25,000) fine.
Laurence Rossignol, the minister for women’s rights, said pro-life activists were still at liberty to voice their opposition to abortion, as long as it was “under the condition they openly state who they are, what they do and what they want”, according to AFP.
French law already prevents pro-lifers from demonstrating outside abortion clinics. Supporters of the new law argue that pro-life tactics have moved online and must be stopped.
Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille, president of the French bishops’ conference, had written to President François Hollande expressing his concern about the bill, calling it a “serious infringement of democratic principles”.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Paris at the end of January to protest against the law.
Refugee thanks Pope for new life
Pope Francis has been reunited with one of the Syrian refugees he brought home with him from the Greek island of Lesbos.
Nour Essa, who flew to Rome along with her husband and child, met the Pope during his visit to the Roma Tre University. She told him: “Our lives changed in a day thanks to you.” Essa, who had been staying at a refugee camp, is studying biology at the university.
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