A Time For Peace

The Synod is over, thank God. At the end of it all the Fathers have endorsed, albeit in obscure language, the teaching of the Church and her pastoral practice as reiterated in St John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio.  Sadly there is enough ambiguity to give those who dissent from Christ's teaching space and ground to continue their campaign and already some religious media networks and the secular media are twisting the truth to fit their agenda. Be warned, this is not over.

These have been traumatic weeks, and it is sad to say it, but there is now a serious division in the Church, a division not seen since 1968 when Blessed Paul VI promulgated Humanae Vitae. Pope Francis has many problems to face, the most pressing now concerning the growing disunity in the Church since he took office. As Pontiff he has to live up to his title and seek to build bridges, a process that must be grounded in the truth and not ideology. This will be an uphill task, however if he is to face it and have any success he has to dispense with denunciations and insults. Sadly his last talk to the Synod with its barbed comments towards the orthodox was not a good start.

All of us need to pray - for the Church in this difficult time, and for the Pope. It is not the time for in-fighting, insults, personal attacks or hatred. We are meant to be disciples of Christ, Children of God: how we deal with disagreements should differ from the way the world deals with them. We do not go to war, we seek reconciliation in truth guided by charity. As the first among us, it falls to Francis to show us the way.  

A Few Thoughts On The Synod

To be honest with you I was not looking forward to this post because it would require a few thoughts on what has been happening since I took my break. But what can you say? The landscape of the Church has changed so radically in such a short time many of us are left breathless. Well, perhaps, not changed, but things have been brought to a head so decisively. Many are scratching their heads and wondering what to do, others are deeply worried and some on the edge of despair. To all of them I say: "Have Faith". 

The Lord did not found the Church to allow her fall beneath the whims of churchmen and women of any given time and fashion. Nor will she become a pawn of the world, an instrument to confirm all that is wrong with the world through a corrupt reading of the Gospel. The Lord will not allow it, his permissive Will will permit the Church to be brought to the edge, and we are getting near the edge, but she will not fall over or be pushed - "Thus far and no further!" God will intervene as he has in the past and will in the future for as long as the world lasts. The Church is Christ's sacrament of salvation in the world, his Bride, he is not going to give up on her, he will defend her. This is a moment of testing for us and we must rise to the test and be found worthy. Now we pray, fast, offer penance and seek renewal, because God is speaking to us in this crisis. And what is he saying?  Well, we have to discern that. 

We may enter a serious crisis, but we have been there before, and such moments actually assist the Church to strengthen her faith and understand the teaching of Christ in a deeper way. If it was not for the Arian Crisis and the Christological heresies we would not have had such a rich understanding of the Lord's nature. In this present crisis it is the very nature of man and woman that is disputed, the new heresy seeks to redefine man, woman, marriage, sex and family and is trying to pull the Church into its way of thinking and part of this heresy's modus operandi is to deny the reality of sin. But we already have the antidote to this corruption - the Gospel, of course, but also the teachings of St John Paul the Great. Though we recognize how important these teachings are, we have yet to plumb the depths - his philosophy and theology of man, woman, sex and marriage contain the Church's answer to the anthropological heresies that seem to be prevailing in the world and in the Synod hall. This crisis, among other things, will help us recover and understand in a deeper way who we are as human beings, created and redeemed. 

The Communion issue, the dissolution of the Church issue are part of this bigger picture, not mere unpleasant diversions, but an indication that something is wrong that needs to be set right. The Church is called to be prophetic - to face the world and proclaim the truth about humanity. I think when this Synod ends our orthodox bishops and cardinals will realise just how prophetic they need to be, that they can no longer take a back seat or fall into complacency: the rot is in the Church as it is in the world and it has to be dealt with. And I think this will ultimately benefit the New Evangelisation (which has fallen off the radar for many these last few years). As more and more human beings fall victim to the sexual revolution, as they seek not just the meaning of life and the meaning of existence, but the very significance of being human, it will be the Catholic Church which will have the answer. In the future we will not only proclaim Christ, but also the true nature of humanity in relationship with Christ.

For now, we need to hold firm, and pray for the Pope, Cardinals and bishops. It may well be a hairy ride and we will have to parse very carefully what everyone is saying, but at the end of the day we have the truth in the Scriptures, the Catechism, and, on the issue of marriage and the family, in the teachings of John Paul the Great: let these be your guides.

Disturbing Revelations

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri

An important story concerning the Extraordinary Synod on the Family last October has emerged. The Catholic World Report has it and you can read it here. Fr Z blogged on it yesterday.

According to the story, copies of the Ignatius Press book on marriage, Remaining in the Truth of Christ, were posted through regular mail to the participants in the Synod, however most of them were taken, intercepted (stolen according to Fr Z) allegedly by Cardinal Baldisseri, General Secretary of the Synod, so they would not "interfere with the Synod" (apparently his own words).

If this is true, and it seems it is given the Cardinal's own admissions, it is a disgrace. It is an action that casts another shadow on the workings of the Synod and further reduces people's confidence, not only in the Synod and its aims, but also on those organizing it, and let's face it, many many good people have many legitimate concerns. Many are worried about how things will go at the next Synod in October, this revelation will not help. Committing a crime to prevent members of the Synod having access to an important publication on matters concerning the Synod (and intercepting/stealing another's mail is actually a crime) may well bring the whole Synod process into disrepute.

One wonders how the Holy See will now respond? Will Cardinal Baldisseri be left in place? Will the Holy Father take action? Will Cardinal Kasper, who seems to be the darling of some of those organizing this Synod, continue to be facilitated to air his views without challenge, while those who offer valid and orthodox objections to his proposals are pushed out into the margins? Is the interception of this book an indication as to the plans of some organizing this Synod and a revelation of how far they are prepared to go to get their way?  

I fear poor Fr Lombardi will be wheeled out yet again in an damage limitation exercise in the hope it will all go away and the backroom boys can get on with their work.  This is not good for the Church.

Remaining in the Truth of Christ, co-authored by a number of scholars, five Cardinals among them, is a response to Cardinal Kasper's proposal to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive Holy Communion. The book is a fine piece of work and in my opinion, a marvellous summary of the various aspects of Church teaching on marriage and sound pastoral practice. It should be on every reading list in every course on marriage and sacraments and in the library of every Catholic institution. As bad as things are, and they are bad, at least good scholars and orthodox pastors are coming out with sound catechetical material which will ultimately help the Church's understanding of marriage and her mission to married couples.

Canon lawyer Ed Peters has an interesting article on this.

Can We Criticize A Pope?

St Catherine of Siena rebukes the Pope

There is a debate going on between Fr Dwight Longenecker and Sean Fitzpatrick over at Crisis Magazine over whether a pope can be legitimately criticized. Fr Longenecker says yes; Mr Fitzpatrick says no. Here is the link to the debate, it is worth reading. 

Some believe that one can criticize a pope, in charity and with respect of course. The first to do it was St Paul who publicly rebuked St Peter (Galatians 2:11-14). Among others was St Catherine of Siena who didn't spare her words and did not hesitate to publicly rebuke the pope whenever she saw it needed to be done. And in the last pontificate the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires publicly criticized Pope Benedict following the Regensburg speech in 2006.

An interesting debate. But let us never forget we are Christians, committed to truth and to charity. 

The "Robber Synod"?

Believe it or not, that is what some are now calling the Synod on the family. Following my post this morning, there has been a major upheaval, the Synod Fathers have revolted against Cardinal Baldisseri, the Secretary of the Synod who has been controlling proceedings and press releases, when he announced that the reports from the subcommittees, the Circuli Minores, would not be made public. 

According to accounts, Cardinal George Pell stood up, condemned the decision and demanded that the reports be made public. He then announced that the Synod Fathers were tired of the manipulation which has been taking place since the beginning of the Synod. Apparently Cardinal Baldisseri stood his ground and reiterated the reports would not be made public, and this provoked angry protests from the bishops who rose up against him. He was shouted down, it seems, and, if I may use the metaphor, all hell broke loose in the chamber. Cardinal Baldisseri had to turn to the Pope who remained silent but seemed furious with the bishops. The Pope had to relent, nodded to the Cardinal and so permitted the publicizing of the reports. For more see Fr Z's blog, he has a few posts on it.

The proceedings have been published on the Vatican website, go and consult them, because at last we may well have an accurate account of what is actually going on in the Synod chamber, unfiltered. At last, it seems, the Synod Fathers, who for the most part are orthodox and faithful, are standing up. 

Reflecting on all this, I wonder, are these protests the voice of the Holy Spirit, using the faithful bishops to ensure that the Pope and Church will not fall into error? These last few months I have come to see the reaction of the Cardinals to Cardinal Kasper's talk last February as a movement of the Spirit. If these events are such, Pope Francis would do well to pay close attention to them.

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PS: I see a comment on another blog and it just sums things up, it's very good: "If the bishops go crazy, the pope puts down the foot. If the pope goes crazy, the bishops put down the foot. And if both go crazy, the Holy Ghost puts down the foot."

The Smoke Of Satan?

I have been tempted many times to post on the developments at the Synod, but I held back to allow prudence and charity sift me. What days! In my life I have not seen anything like this. I was not around for the fiasco of 1968 when those who rejected the Church's teaching on sexual morality turned on the Pope and crucified him. We have been celebrating the memory of that Pope in our online novena here and on Sunday I will be in St Peter's Square to see him beatified.

But what is happening now? All I can think of is Ven Paul's words that the smoke of Satan had entered the Church, and now it seems those who seek to be faithful to Christ's teaching are being suffocated. What an awful turn of events. 

People are coming to me and asking me what is happening. Good, devout souls who pray are wondering why this is happening, why are Cardinals and bishops fighting, what was that relatio, what is the Pope up to?  And now: why did Cardinal Kasper say such racist things about the Church in Africa? Is the Church in crisis, I was asked?  I can answer that: the Church is always in crisis, she is always living with tension, not only with the values of the world, but also within with the effects of sin and other dimensions of fallen humanity, and then there is Church politics. She is always the focus for those who reject the Gospel because, despite her many failures and the sins of her members, she hangs on to Christ's teaching and it remains the ideal, and she strives to live it, successfully for the most part, and encourages her children to do the same, and many of them do, and they are the Saints/saints.

But now, listening to the cacophony coming out of the Synod, those in charge - the minority, seem to be abandoning those teachings for the sake of what they call "mercy", seeking to repress/oppress those who hold to those teachings. The Pope's own actions are strange and ambiguous, particularly his appointment of six liberals to oversee the work of the three orthodox moderators elected by the Synod. With all due respect to the Holy Father, but this Synod has all the hallmarks of a very South American coup, only this time it is not a dictator or a democratically elected leader that is being shafted, but, it seems, the very teaching of Jesus Christ and the magisterium of his Church.

Now let us remember this is only a Synod, it is not binding and it is not proposing new doctrine, and it is only a preparation for what is going to happen next year. But, God help us, what lies ahead?  For one, I believe the Holy Spirit will prevent the Church from falling into heresy - her members  may, but there will always be a number, sometimes a small minority, who stay true - a faithful remnant, and the Popes are always among them, so we must have confidence and we must pray. The Church is being sifted, there is no doubt about that, the values of a godless, permissive world are rampaging within the Body of Christ, dressed up as compassionate pastoral ideas which will ultimately end up spreading despair among those they claim they want to help. 

The Lord is allowing this, perhaps to remind us, correctly, that we must reach out to those in irregular situations, not break God's law to make them feel accepted, but to remind them of God's love and the reality of his grace to help them strive to embrace the way of holiness. I hope in their attempts to resist the attack on the Church's moral teachings, its defenders do not cast aside those who do not live up to them, but rather will try to bring them on board to help them rise to the way of life Jesus has laid out for us, as we strive to live it ourselves. That said, no one is served by ignoring the truth and canonizing the lie. The truth with love and patience.

Let us continue to pray. This is a difficult time. But the Church has been through worse - the Arian crisis was hell! But we got through it, we were stronger for it, and we will get through this. Who knows what God will do to sort this out, there may be a few surprises before next year's Ordinary Synod, who knows. We must trust in the Lord, defend our faith with charity, love our enemies, pray for them. We must not forget that we are Christians! And we must, genuinely, seek real solutions to real problems, solutions firmly grounded in the teaching and discipline of the Church which are themselves grounded in Christ's own teaching, and that teaching cannot be abandoned. 

Is the smoke of Satan whirling around the Church? Probably, it is usually lurking somewhere within it. So, get the gas masks on, keep calm, and carry on. 

Synod Developments

The Synod continues. Today the Relatio post disceptationem was issued. Here is a link to the document (unofficial translation) and here is John Thavis's reflections on it - he describes it as an earthquake, but Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith disagrees with him. 

Some of the stuff in it is a reiteration of pastoral initiatives the Church employs in ministering to people in irregular situations, although there are some points which are problematic. Again I am reminded that this particular Synod is fraught with dangers, although we are told that there is no intention to overturn Church teaching. 

Cardinal Burke in his recent interview on ETWN reminded us (and the Synod Fathers I'm sure) of the principle of non contradiction - we cannot uphold Church teaching by implementing solutions to pastoral problems which distinctly contradict those teachings. Among certain people in the Church such contradictions are "erased" by invoking the word "pastoral". That of course is nonsense, true pastoral ministry emerges from and compliments Church teaching. 

We need to pray, and pray hard. Many want this Synod to become the Catholic Church's Lambeth, that must not happen. We must not wander away from Christ's teaching convincing ourselves that infidelity is mercy.

UPDATE: Fr Longenecker has something to say about one of the problematic points in the relatio. It's blunt.

The best reaction to the relatio has to be Pat Archbold's over at Creative Minority Report: "In my mind", he writes, "the Relatio...is the equivalent of standing out in a field during a thunderstorm holding a 50ft lightening rod, daring God to hit it!" 

That Intervention...

At the Synod yesterday, during one of the talks given by married couples, one couple from Australia is reported to have said that the Church should welcome homosexual couples in the same way parents welcome a gay son and his partner at Christmas. The intervention is getting great press. Well, I think Fr Z has a great response to that, which I would recommend you read, and as you do so take note of the current pastoral practice which he describes for couples living together, be they heterosexual or homosexual.

So It Begins...

The Synod on the Family has begun in Rome. After a vigil on Saturday evening, the Pope celebrated Mass yesterday, and this morning the first plenary session began with an invocation of the Holy Spirit. We must keep the proceedings in our prayers.

As expected there has been a great deal of coverage by the media.  I was watching the Irish media and the BBC to see what they would say. They rehashed the usual commentary on Pope Francis, selectively quoted from his homily and tweaked what he said in order to give viewers/listeners the impression that he is going to use this Synod to change Church teaching on same sex marriage, contraception, divorce etc.  So the narrative has been laid out.  We must be very careful when it comes to media reports. At this stage my attitude to the mainstream media is a hermeneutic of suspicion; not always because journalists are being mischievous or malicious in their reporting, but because a lot of the time they are just ignorant of the Church, her teachings, her systems and her intentions, So take care. Rely on Catholic media, but then again be careful there too.

The Synod is a wonderful opportunity for the Church to look again at her mission to the family, and to iterate the importance of marriage and the family in the Church. There is so much for the Council Fathers to draw upon as they seek to find new ways of proclaiming the Gospel to the family while reflecting on challenges to marriage and family life. This is the first Synod on these themes since St John Paul developed his theology of the body, and that holds many treasures which should really be explored in the deliberations. I know Pope Francis has said that the Synod is not to be the place for rarefied theologising (my phrase), but theology cannot be excluded since its purpose is to understand in a deeper way what our faith is and help us to live it in our time. 

The Pope has said that the Synod must seek to do what God wants, so that means human expectations must be grounded in Christ's teaching, and if the synod wishes to be faithful to Christ then the expected abandoning of Christian teaching on marriage should not be on the agenda. That said, listening to the media and commentators I fear unchristian expectations are growing and being nurtured.

Of course we shouldn't be surprised at this. There is little doubt that marriage and the family is now the front-line in the war between the secular world and Christianity. Marriage and family life are ultimately a threat to the progress of the secularist agenda. As the domestic Church, as the place where values are passed on, ideologues have always tried to demolish the family so to form the next generation themselves. The Church has always resisted this and its main form of opposition was to nurture good Christian marriage - virtuous parents who raised their children in love and virtue. This sticks in the throat of ideologues for whom the exclusive nature of the family not only offends their permissive agenda but serves as a wall, a filter, through which their ideas must fight to penetrate.

I do believe this Synod has become a trophy for the secularists within the Church, for many of them it is their last chance to force through their agenda as old age is catching up with them.  They have managed to create enormous expectations and I fear that we may well be facing a repeat of 1968 with similar results. As with Pope Paul VI on contraception, Francis cannot jettison Christ's teaching to satisfy those who no longer want to live it; even if he wants to do it for mercy's sake, as some maintain, he will be prevented, not by conservative cardinals as some liberals have suggested, but by God himself who made the law and proclaimed it in the Gospel. Like the tenants in the vineyard in yesterday's Gospel - we have no right to usurp what is not ours: it is God's Church, his law, his Gospel, his way not ours. Re-imagining a more liberal, permissive Jesus who renounces his own moral teachings in order to fit in with an unbelieving generation is an exercise in fantasy, one which will ultimately lead to disappointment and, even worse, misleading souls.

I am heartened by the first reading from the Mass this morning, from St Paul's Letter to the Galatians (1:6-12). I wonder if the Synod Fathers took it as a message for how the Synod should proceed. Here it is for your meditation:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Bonkers And Bonkers

I believe the Church, as well as being a communio, is a family, one established on blood kinship, not our blood - that which we inherit from ancestors, but a family established in the Blood of Christ and the waters of baptism. Because this is my view, I would see that the members of the Church must form a deep relationship with each other. As members of a family we should love each other, and as members of a family we should also be able to talk about things in a way that is familial. I often sense that many members of the Church who can only speak about the Church in an negative and angry tone, and are often dismissive, probably fail to see the bond of kinship that should exist between us.

Anyway, why this? Well it seems the former President of our Republic, Mary McAleese has launched another attack on the Church, this time the Synod of Bishops on the Family. Given her views in the past, it is not surprising to learn that she is rather dismissive of the Synod as it is being planned, and said that is "completely bonkers" that "celibate men" will be discussing the various issues. She feels that women should have a vital part to play in the process. Fair enough I suppose, there is a case to be made. But then I sense it would depend on the women: would orthodox, prayerful women who respect, live and defend the Church's teachings, in particular the moral teachings, be acceptable to her?

However, given the tone of McAleese's statements and taking her approach, and following her lead I would have to wonder, as a celibate priest, why she takes it upon herself to talk about priesthood and celibacy (which she has many times in the past)?  If bishops are not qualified to talk about family life (remember they are members of families themselves) then she as a married woman is not qualified to talk about celibacy. 

Sometimes as a priest you get  little cheesed off having to listen to people lecturing to you about celibacy and how we priests should be allowed to marry. When you disagree with them they attack you - as if you know nothing about the subject and they are the experts, when in reality the opposite is the case. Let us be clear: when a man is studying for the priesthood he knows that if he goes the whole way he will be required to live a life of celibacy, it is not sprung upon him at the last minute when it's all too late.  He begins this life the second he enters seminary. His seven years of training are to include living the celibate life to help him discern if this is for him: can he live a celibate life? I know some guys thought they could continue to have girlfriends and needed only to give them up when ordained deacons, but these guys had problems later on. Celibacy is not easy, but it is harder when a priest does not foster an intimate relationship with God and healthy relationships with good people. I stress good people because a priest needs honest, moral and sensible friends who will form not only a support group around him, but a spiritual family.

I think Pope Benedict teaches us this in his life. When Francis became Pope he eschewed the Papal Apartments and took up residence in an institution, the Domus. To be honest, I did not think that was a good idea for a number of reasons and I continue to believe that as I hear of problems which have emerged for the usual residents of the Domus Sancta Martha and the Roman locals living around it. Benedict, however, moved in humbly to the accommodation which was provided (and it is not lavish - the Papal Apartments are pretty spartan), but there he gathered a spiritual family around him. We heard the term "Papal family" used during his pontificate and some may have scratched their heads and wondered what this was all about. Benedict's made a spiritual family of his friends and staff, they took care of him and supported him, as he served them in his papal and fatherly ministry. That, I think, should be the model for secular priests. Such a model is possible when we remember the bonds that unite us. 

As a priest I have my family, but also many acquaintances, friends, and then close friends (men and women) who form my "spiritual family". With my own family this spiritual family supports me, prays for me and keeps an eye out for me. It is in this context that I live my celibacy, and with a life of prayer and work, and many interests, celibacy is not a burden but allows me the freedom to carry out the ministry I was called to. Some might say I can only speak for myself - true, but many thousands upon thousands of priests from the Apostles down to the newly ordained today can testify in the same way. Some will say I am bonkers, well if so I hope to be a fool for Christ's sake as another (happy) celibate once said - St Paul.

And let us not forget the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Living priesthood is living a vocation which has been made a sacrament and in this God gives his grace to help the priest live a faithful life - including celibacy. Prayer is vital here, for in prayer the priest's soul is opened to receive the grace of the sacrament and he is strengthened by the very gift of life from Christ the High Priest. Now when I mean prayer I mean authentic, heart to heart prayer, alone with the Lord in adoration and solitude. The first priority for a priest must be the time he sets aside to be alone with God. When a priest abandons prayer even for the noble excuse of ministry, he is opening the door for problems ahead and may well be closing the door to grace. A dry well gives no water. 

All that said, thanks to the members of my spiritual family, my close friends who have always been there for me. 

Is Church History About To Repeat Itself?

A friend sent me an email recently in which he wondered if Pope Francis will face a "Humanae Vitae moment" at the Synod on the family next October. The substance of his reflection is that the Pope will be unable to satisfy the demands of the German bishops, the media and liberal Catholics and permit the admission of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to the Eucharist, and this will lead to a situation for Francis which will mirror that faced by the Venerable Paul VI in 1968 following his refusal to endorse the use of artificial contraception. This has been suggested by a few people in the past couple of weeks. 

I have been thinking about this for the last while, and reflecting on it with some theologian friends, and I think it is possible that this might actually happen. Ultimately it will depend on how Francis deals with the situation, but I have to admit the Holy Father is being pushed further and further into a corner by growing expectations.  

Let's explore this for a moment. We are all aware of the media hype that surrounds the Holy Father. Okay, we can put to one side for a moment his ambiguity, his lack of theological precision and the now growing need for Fr Lombardi or other Vatican officials to clarify points made by the Pope due to his spontaneous utterances. The Holy Father's style is different from John Paul's and Benedict's - he is more free and ambiguous in his speech and I think we'll just have to get used to this for this Pontificate (although rumours have it a senior ranking Churchman has taken the Pope to one side and has had a "chat" with him on this ambiguity so we might see a change there - might). But all that said, I do not doubt his orthodoxy.  

However the media and liberals have been engaged in creating a virtual Francis, one who eschews doctrine and wants to demolish the Church and rebuild it as a more liberal organisation founded on the shifting sands of relativism and human emotions. At the moment it can be hard to distinguish between Francis and the virtual Francis because the secular media control most of the airwaves and Francis's free ways do not help matters. As we have seen here in Ireland with the recent abortion issue, the media set the agenda and can actually push public representatives and even the electorate in a particular direction - one which favours their point of view and political persuasion. Such is the power of the image and careful control of reporting and opinion. In a similar way, the media are presenting the virtual Francis as the reality and selectively reporting on what he says so as to lead the public to accept their man as the real man.

In this context, then, it may well be that the media and liberals will be attempting to use their power to push various issues in a particular direction. They may well be naïve enough to think that Francis will go in that direction (but he is, as we all know now, his own man), and so they are sowing expectations that Church teaching on marriage and the Eucharist may well be changed "for pastoral reasons". There are those in the Church who seem to think this as many pastors have already allowed divorced and civilly remarried couples receive Holy Communion in anticipation of the Pope changing the rule. This is very much like the situation in the 1960s with regard to contraception - many bishops and priests were then advising Catholics to use contraception because they believed Pope Paul was going to permit it.  

But will Francis change the rule? I do not think he will, not because he won't but, as I said before, because he can't. Even though it is a personal and painful issue for many, it is at its core an issue of the moral law. I have no doubt that Francis realises this and knows that to change the rule is to admit that adultery is no longer a grave sin, and such a change will undermine the nature of Christian marriage and lead the faithful into error, something as Pope he cannot do. There is much to be done on this painful issue, and the synod will reflect on what possibilities lie before us - one of which is a reconsideration of the annulment process and perhaps even the issue of canonical form as suggested by Ed Peters in a recent article. Such a synod is long overdue and, given the challenges to marriage, it is necessary. 

I hope Pope Francis is also aware that to change the rule will have other consequences with regard to marriage: this is not just about the divorced and civilly remarried receiving Communion - it is about the nature of marriage. We had a similar situation in 1968: Pope Paul realised that contraception was broader than controlling fertility in the short term, but rather an issue of life, marriage and the family. Paul prophetically understood that contraception would led to the undermining of respect for life because it placed life under the control of human beings and left it up to them to decide whether life begins or not, and, as we have seen, if life has begun whether it will be allowed continue or not. Rendering the sexual act barren through artificial means would also lead to other problematic issues regarding the integrity of the human person and the family. 

So too with this issue on marriage. To change the rule would undermine sacramental marriage and endorse situations in which Catholic marriage can be put to one side and other unions legitimised. Remember receiving Communion is not just a personal act, it is an ecclesial act: admitting those in what are seen as irregular unions under the moral law to the Eucharist will be seen to legitimise those unions. This will have many consequences. For one it will open the door to a form of legitimising same sex unions: how could the Church refuse the Eucharist to those in a same sex union when it allows it for the divorced and civilly remarried? To be consistent, she can't: she will have already undermined and put aside the moral law. 

If the Pope were to grant the German bishops what they want, he would leave the decision about the validity of a sacramental marriage to the subjective opinion of the spouses. This too would have serious consequences for marriage and for women in particular - what is stopping a man who is tired of his wife to decide in his heart of hearts that the marriage was not valid and so put her to one side with the, albeit reluctant, approval of the Church? An English king tried to do that once.

We may well be facing another troublesome period in the Church, not quite unchartered waters, but stormy ones, and the now popular Francis may well suddenly find himself presiding over another period of defections, and this will be painful for him and for all of us. It will, I suppose, depend on how the media and liberals want to proceed - will they ignore the Post-Synodal Exhortation and continue to mislead, or will they decide the decision is too obvious to ignore and turn on Francis? I do not know, it's all in the air. But one thing I do know: we need to pray for the Holy Father, and pray hard: first that he will do the right thing, and then that God will sustain him as what may be a very difficult cross will be laid on his shoulders - one which may well kill him in the end, as Paul VI's did.

Perhaps we might commend him to the care and intercession of the Venerable Paul VI.