{"id":30561,"date":"2021-05-10T14:13:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T18:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/vatican-sends-letter-to-u-s-bishops-dont-rush-the-debate-on-communion-politicians-and-abortion\/"},"modified":"2021-05-10T14:13:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T18:13:38","slug":"vatican-sends-letter-to-u-s-bishops-dont-rush-the-debate-on-communion-politicians-and-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/vatican-sends-letter-to-u-s-bishops-dont-rush-the-debate-on-communion-politicians-and-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Vatican sends letter to U.S. Bishops: Don\u2019t rush the debate on Communion, politicians and abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J., the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has sent a letter to Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that may lead to a reconsideration of the plan of some bishops to get the conference to approve a document regarding \u201cthe worthiness to receive Communion\u201d of Catholic politicians who support legislation permitting abortion, euthanasia or other moral evils.<\/p>\n

The letter, dated May 7, comes as a response to a letter on March 30 from Archbishop Gomez to the C.D.F. in which he informed the congregation that the U.S.C.C.B. was preparing to draft such a document.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Ladaria thanked the archbishop for this information and for assuring him that the U.S.C.C.B. plans to send the draft text to the C.D.F. \u201cfor an informal review, prior to its submission to the body of bishops for a vote.\u201d He concluded by saying the C.D.F. asks that the cardinal\u2019s letter \u201cbe shared with all the bishops of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J., has sent a letter to Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez that may lead to a reconsideration of the plan of some bishops to get the conference to approve a document regarding \u201cthe worthiness to receive Communion\u201d of Catholic politicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cardinal Ladaria begins the letter by responding at length to Archbishop Gomez\u2019s request that the C.D.F. make available a copy of a letter from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to former cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2004 on the subject. Cardinal Ladaria explained that since it was \u201cin the form of a private letter to the bishops\u201d and Cardinal Ratzinger had stipulated that \u201cthese principles were not intended for publication,\u201d the C.D.F. would respect his wish.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Cardinal Ladaria acknowledged that the principles contained in the letter may assist the bishops in drafting their document, but they \u201cshould only be discussed within the context of the [C.D.F.\u2019s] authoritative doctrinal note\u201d of 2002: \u201cOn some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life.\u201d He said that text predates Cardinal Ratzinger\u2019s \u201cpersonal communication\u201d and \u201cprovides the teaching of the Magisterium on the theological foundation for any initiative regarding the question of the worthy reception of Holy Communion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter from Cardinal Ladaria, a copy of which was seen by America<\/strong>, he recalls that the issue of a U.S.C.C.B. document on Catholic pro-choice politicians and worthiness for reception of Communion, had been raised during the 2019-20 ad limina visits of the U.S. bishops to Pope Francis. He said the C.D.F. had then \u201cadvised that dialogue among the bishops be undertaken to preserve the unity of the episcopal conference in the face of disagreements over this controversial topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe congregation notes that such a policy, given its possibly contentious nature, could have the opposite effect and become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, the cardinal said, \u201cthe formulation of a national policy was suggested during the ad limina visits only if this would help the bishops to maintain unity.\u201d He added, \u201cThe congregation notes that such a policy, given its possibly contentious nature, could have the opposite effect and become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Ladaria said the C.D.F. had then advised the U.S. bishops to take certain important steps before drafting any document, including engaging in \u201cextensive and serene dialogue\u201d in two stages. It said such dialogue should take place first among the bishops with the aim of reaching agreement on the doctrinal issues so as \u201cto maintain unity\u201d in the conference and in the church in the United States.<\/p>\n

After doing that, it said the bishops should conduct a similar dialogue with the Catholic politicians \u201cwithin their jurisdiction who adopt a pro-choice position regarding abortion legislation, euthanasia, or other moral evils, as a means of understanding the nature of their positions and their comprehension of Catholic teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAny statement of the conference regarding Catholic political leaders would best be framed within the broad context of worthiness for the reception of Holy Communion on the part of all the faithful, rather than only one category of Catholics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Once these two stages of dialogue have been completed, Cardinal Ladaria said the bishops\u2019 conference \u201cwould then face the difficult task of discerning the best way forward for the church in the United States to witness to the grave moral responsibility of Catholic public officials to protect human life at all stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The C.D.F. letter also lays down important markers if the bishops choose to go in this direction. First, it said that if the conference decides \u201cto formulate a national policy on worthiness for Communion,\u201d that \u201csuch a statement would need to express a true consensus of the bishops on the matter, while observing the prerequisite that any provision of the conference in this area would respect the rights of individual ordinaries in their dioceses and the prerogatives of the Holy See.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Ladaria said the C.D.F. \u201cadvises\u201d the U.S.C.C.B. that \u201cany statement of the conference regarding Catholic political leaders would best be framed within the broad context of worthiness for the reception of Holy Communion on the part of all the faithful, rather than only one category of Catholics, reflecting their obligation to conform their lives to the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ as they prepare to receive the sacrament.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Significantly, in a comment that challenges the U.S.C.C.B. position that abortion is \u201cthe pre-eminent\u201d moral issue, Cardinal Ladaria told the conference\u2019s president that \u201cit would be misleading if such a statement were to give the impression that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest accountability on the part of Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Ladaria concluded by telling Archbishop Gomez that as they draft the statement the U.S. bishops should make \u201cevery effort…to dialogue with other episcopal conferences [in other countries] as this policy is formulated in order both to learn from one another and to preserve unity in the Universal Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

The counsel from the congregation seems to suggest clearly that the drafting of a document as envisaged by the U.S.C.C.B. president is something that cannot be rushed and would inevitably take time, and it would have to reflect \u201ctrue consensus\u201d among the bishops, something that cannot be taken for granted now.<\/p>\n

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More from America on the reception of Holy Communion:<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Credit: Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J., the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has sent a letter to Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that may lead to a reconsideration of the plan of some bishops to get the conference to approve a document regarding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nVatican sends letter to U.S. Bishops: Don\u2019t rush the debate on Communion, politicians and abortion - WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldcatholicnews.com\/vatican-sends-letter-to-u-s-bishops-dont-rush-the-debate-on-communion-politicians-and-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vatican sends letter to U.S. Bishops: Don\u2019t rush the debate on Communion, politicians and abortion - WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cardinal Luis F. 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