Will the Family Synod lead to annulment reform?

With cardinals who head the world’s major dioceses lining up against Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposals to provide a path back to the Eucharist for those who have entered new relationships after divorcing, reform is increasingly shifting to the sphere of annulments, Dr Austen Ivereigh writes for Catholic Voices

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, recently became the latest of a large number of senior figures to suggest that the Kasper proposals could but imply a “radical rethink” in core Catholic understanding of both marriage and the Eucharist. In his press conference ahead of his departure for Rome for next month’s synod, the Cardinal said: This is obviously a crucial part of this debate because it brings together two very significant aspects of Catholic teaching and understanding. It brings together a teaching about the indissolubility of a valid marriage …. and it also brings together a teaching about the meaning of receiving Holy Communion, that visible sharing in the Eucharist. These are two aspects of Catholic faith that have deep roots and deep implications. And I don’t see for myself where the area of manoeuvre opens up without quite a radical rethink of one or the other.

Similar views have been expressed by other cardinals, including Timothy Dolan of New York, Angelo Scola of Milan, Séan O’Malley of Boston, and Thomas Collins of Toronto; as well as by heavyweight Vatican cardinals such as George Pell, head of the Secretariat of the Economy, Marc Ouellet, who heads the Congregation of Bishops, and Gerhard Müller, who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Two books have recently been published, as well as articles in the journal Communio, which make a vigorous case against Kasper’s proposals.

To continue reading Dr Ivereigh's article see: www.catholicvoices.org.uk/