Vatican Refuses to Relax Divorce Rule

VATICAN CITY —  The Vatican ruled out any relaxation of its ban on Communion for divorced Roman Catholics who have remarried, declaring that the prohibition derives from divine law and can never be changed.

The Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts issued the statement in response to arguments by liberal theologians in the United States and Germany that the section of church law under which the ban is enforced should not be applied to remarried Catholics.

For divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion is a “scandal” that “prompts others toward wrongdoing” and affects both the sacrament of the Eucharist and the Catholic belief in the indissolubility of marriage, the council said.

The council, which is the Vatican’s highest authority on church law, said the only exception to the ban on Communion is for remarried couples who must stay together for such “serious motives” as raising the children of the second marriage but who live together as brother and sister without marital sex.

The withholding of Communion from Catholics who receive a civil divorce and remarry outside the church is a highly emotional issue. Some Catholics consider it to be as important as the debate over allowing priests to marry and ordaining women.

Divorced Catholics who do not remarry are allowed to receive Communion.

According to the Catholic Almanac, estimates of the number of U.S. Catholics who have divorced and remarried range between 6 million and 8 million.

Although denied Communion, they may attend Mass, baptize and raise their children in the church, and take part in other church activities.