After the controversy, the pope thanks the document of D. Manuel Clemente on divorced – Observer



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Pope Francisco sent a letter to the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, Manuel Clemente, in which he thanked him for the "deep reflection" that he had made about chapter VIII of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia on the approach of the Catholic Church to divorced couples who remarried for the civilian.

A pastoral note published in February of this year and which has become controversial because the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon tells the priests of his diocese who should not "stop offering life in continence" to couples who are married in a second marriage and have not seen their Catholic marriage declared invalid – that is, to offer remarried divorcees the right to abstain from having sexual intercourse [19659003] " I would like to thank you for having sent Lent on the occasion of Lent that you sent to the priests of the Patriarchate for the application of Chapter VIII of Exhortation A. Amoris laetitia This profound reflection filled me with joy because I recognized the effort of the pastor and the father who, conscious of his duty to 39, accompanying the faithful, wanted to do it by starting with his elders to fulfill the ministry "" [19659002]

"Spousal situations are today one of the areas where such support is most necessary and delicate. For this reason, he wanted to call the Episcopal College an extended synodal itinerary which, despite the inevitable difficulties, led to the ripening of shared guidelines for the benefit of all God's people, "Pope Francis continued in a letter from June 26

At the time, and after the publication of the news of the public newspaper at the origin of the controversy, the director of the Ministry of Family of the Patriarchate of Lisbon told the Observer that it was "reductive" to say that D. Manuel Clemente advised remarried divorcees to refrain from having sexual intercourse. "It is not D. Manuel who advises, it is Pope John Paul II." This recommendation already comes from the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio 1981, "he said. Father Rui Pedro Carvalho

In fact, the reference to sexual abstinence in these cases is not exclusive to D. Manuel Clemente. After the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia a group of Argentine bishops wrote an interpretive document that mentions the issue of sexual abstinence, which Pope Francis has validated and included in the teaching of the Church. After that, several bishops around the world – including D. Manuel Clemente – wrote similar documents for their dioceses.

Later, the Cardinal Patriarch gave an interview to the Express in which he acknowledged who wrote a very short document in which "things are not as good explained only in the longer texts ", and supposed to have been" misunderstood ". "I wanted to prepare one and it was perhaps the danger," said D. Manuel Clemente

. The Cardinal Patriarch, who is also President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, also admitted that the Church must "take better care of communication". "A note made for a meeting of vicars and published on the site of the diocese, of course everyone reads!" In a letter published Thursday, Pope Francis expresses not only his "gratitude" as a cardinal "and his collaborators in the pastoral ministry encourage ] in primis the priests – to continue, with wisdom and patience, to commit to accompany, discern and integrate the fragility, which manifests itself in various forms among the spouses and their links "

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