A high-ranking Vatican official has made known his opposition to the suggestion made at the Synod of bishops that civilly divorced and remarried Catholics may be allowed to become "more integrated" into the Church.
German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, called the proposal "impossible" to implement since is not founded on the truths of the indissolubility of marriage and the sacredness of Holy Communion, LifeSite News reports.
Brandmüller made his position known on Wednesday, two days before Pope Francis is scheduled to release his Apostolic Exhortation on the family. The Exhortation will be released on April 8 at noon, Rome time. Two left-leaning cardinals — Lorenzo Baldisseri and Christoph Schönborn — will reportedly present the document, indicating that the document will have a progressive content, according to Vatican experts.
In his statement, Brandmüller warned that allowing civilly divorced and remarried Catholic to become "more integrated" into the Church would lead to "conflicts," "embarrassments," and an "undermining of the Church's sacred proclamation."
The German cardinal said a married Catholic who marries again even if civilly divorced is "committing adultery."
As long as such person is unwilling to end this sinful situation, he "cannot receive either absolution in Confession nor the Eucharist."
Any action taken other than repentance and change of life is "bound to fail" due to "its inherent untruthfulness," Brandmüller said.
This "untruthfulness" directly applies "to the attempt to integrate into the Church those who live in an invalid 'second marriage' by admitting them to liturgical, catechetical and other functions," he added.
Moreover, integration without repentance and change of life cannot be reconciled with the doctrines of the faith, Brandmüller said.
Referring directly to Pope Francis' forthcoming exhortation, the cardinal said the document must be in consonance with the unchanging dogmas of the Church, especially as expressed in the Church's Catechism.
"A contradiction between a papal document and the Catechism of the Catholic Church would not be imaginable," Brandmüller said.
