Communion for divorced/remarried not most important issue in post-Synod document, Pope tells reporters

April 18, 2016

In a question-and-answer session with reporters who accompanied him on his April 16 visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis acknowledged that his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia has changed the Church’s approach to the reception of Communion by Catholics who are divorced and remarried. But he stressed that the question was by no means the most important issue covered in his apostolic exhortation.

The Pope remarked that the media coverage of the Synod did not reflect the reality of the discussion. He said:

When I convoked the first Synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was whether divorced and remarried Catholics would have access to communion. And since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and also made me rather sad, because I thought, 'do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? The family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the young don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is something to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work available means that a mother has to get two jobs and her children grow up alone? These are the big problems.

Questioned specifically on whether he had called for a change on Communion for divorced/remarried Catholics, the Pope replied: “I could say Yes, but it would be too brief an answer.” Instead of a direct response, he encouraged reporters to refer to the presentation of the apostolic exhortation given by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn at a Vatican press conference.

The Pope also answered several questions about immigration, and his gesture of bringing a dozen refugees back from Lesbos to live at the Vatican. “It is a small gesture,” he said. “But we must all make these little gestures—all men and women—to lend a hand to those in need.”

Pope Francis said that in selecting the families to be brought to Rome, he “did not make a choice between Christians and Muslims.” The three families chosen, he said, “had their documents in order.”

Speaking more generally about immigration, the Pope acknowledged that European nations a challenge in trying to integrate migrants into their culture. The failure to do so, he observed, can be dangerous He noted that some terrorists responsible for recent attacks in Europe “are sons and grandsons of people born in the country.”

Pope Francis told a questioner that he understood why many Europeans feel the influx of foreigners, and worry about the preservation of a cohesive culture. However he insisted that “closing borders does not solve anything.”

When questioned about his short meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders, the US presidential candidate, the Pope emphasized that it had been a quick encounter: “a handshake and nothing more, a question of politeness, not attempting to get mixed up in American politics.”

 

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Further information:

• Conversation with the Pope on return flight from Lesbos (Bollettino)