Three Bishops have spoken out against Pope Francis’ interpretation of Amoris Laetitia to allow some remarried divorcees access to Holy Communion, saying such a reading is causing “rampant confusion,” is “alien” to the Catholic faith, and will spread “a plague of divorce” in the Church.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, Archbishop Tomash Peta, Metropolitan of Astana, and Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga of Karaganda, Kazakhstan issued a Profession of the immutable truths about sacramental marriage on December 31 as a “service of charity in truth” to the Church of today and to the Pope.
The Bishops took the decision to make a “public and unequivocal profession of the truth” regarding the Church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage because they say they “are not allowed to be silent.”
As Catholic Bishops charged with defending and promoting the Catholic faith and common discipline, they say they have a “grave responsibility” and “duty before the faithful” who expect from them “a public and unequivocal profession of the truth and the immutable discipline of the Church regarding the indissolubility of marriage.”
They note that after the publication of Pope Francis’ document on the family, Amoris Laetitia, various bishops and bishops’ conferences have issued norms allowing some civilly remarried divorcees, not living in sexual continence, to receive the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. They point out that these various hierarchical authorities (Germany, Malta, and Buenos Aires, although they do not cite them by name), have also received approval “even from the supreme authority of the Church.”
Last month Pope Francis decided to formally declare the Buenos Aires bishops’ interpretation of Amoris Laetitia “authentic magisterium.”
In light of that fact alone, these Bishops have no alternative but to resign their respective offices since they are no longer in union with the Vicar of Christ for the Universal Church.
Any confusion which persists regarding the authentic interpretation of Amoris Laetitia is being perpetrated and extenuated due to those Bishops who willfully and obstinately refuse to accept what has been declared to be “authentic magisterium”. The division which such Bishops are causing among the Christian faithful is injurious to the Body of Christ.
Should they not have the integrity to step down from their Apostolic Office, the Holy Father should remove them immediately and begin taking steps to see that the seeds of dissent are crushed before they ever have a chance of blossoming into full-fledged schism.
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