Bogotá, Colombia, Mar 30, 2011 / 15:50 pm
The head of the Vatican's council for the family, affirmed that the Catholic Church always embraces those who are divorced and remarried “with truth and mercy.”
“Those who are divorced and have entered into a new union cannot be admitted to the Eucharist and to sacramental absolution as long as they remain in a state of objective contradiction of the demands of Christian marriage,” Cardinal Ennio Antonelli explained. However, they “should be helped to find the mercy of God ‘through other means’.”
The Church is with them and encourages them to “remain humble, to pray to understand and follow ever more the will of God,” the cardinal said. He added that they should also commit to doing good works, reflect on the “meaning of moral norms” and always trust “in the infinite mercy of God.
Cardinal Antonelli spoke March 29 at a conference for Latin American bishops who are devoted to family ministry. The event will run through April 1.