Prelate Favoring Holy Communion for Remarried Divorcees Given Multiple Key Posts

You are not signed in as a Premium user; you are viewing the free version of this program. Premium users have access to full-length programs with limited commercials and receive a 10% discount in the store! Sign up for only one day for the low cost of $1.99. Click the button below.

See All Plans

VATICAN (ChurchMilitant.com) - The archbishop recently appointed as head of two pro-family institutes in Rome has worked to undermine the traditional family by advocating for the reception of Holy Communion by civilly remarried divorcees engaged in ongoing adulterous relationships.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, until now president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, has been appointed president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and new grand chancellor of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family. The Vatican made this announcement Wednesday alongside the appointment of Dallas bishop Kevin Farrell as prefect of the Congregation for the Laity, the Family and Life.

Paglia is known to favor giving Holy Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried. He himself published a book after the 2014 Synod on the Family titled "Family and Church: an indissoluble bond." The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that this book offers arguments for admitting "remarried" divorcees to the sacraments, albeit in a limited way.

The same newspaper also reported on a three-day seminar conducted by the Pontifical Council for the Family headed by Paglia.

A penitential path ad-hoc, let us call it a "via discretionis" [a discreet or discretionary path], which consents to make it possible that remarried divorcees may have access to the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation. This is the proposal which emerged during a three-day international seminar, behind closed doors, which has been convoked by the Pontifical Council for the Family in light of the upcoming Synod of Bishops in October 2015.

Interestingly, the JPII Institute for Marriage and the Family, which Paglia will be taking over, is well known for its commitment to the solid moral teaching of its namesake. Members of this institute, outspoken against extending Holy Communion to remarried divorcees, were not present at the 2014 Synod on the Family.

Paglia has been president of the Pontifical Council for the Family since 2012. Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko has been president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity since 2003. On September 1, both of these councils will be dissolved into the newly created super-dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.

The Pontifical Academy for Life, with Paglia as its new president, will be connected to the new mega-congregation but retain its own identity. A new appointment was not provided Wednesday for Cdl. Rylko.

Have a news tip? Submit news to our tip line.

We rely on you to support our news reporting. Please donate today.