VATICAN: A New Zealand archbishop at the Vatican synod on the Eucharist has challenged the church to rethink the prohibition on divorced Catholics who remarry receiving communion.
Archbishop John Atcherly Dew of Wellington compared the plight of Catholics who wanted to receive communion but were forbidden, to hunger in the world. Dr Dew spoke on Tuesday evening and the Vatican released the text yesterday.
"As bishops, we have a pastoral duty and an obligation before God to discuss and debate the difficulties burdening so many of our people," Dr Dew told the synod of more than 250 bishops, who will draft final recommendations to the Pope at the end of their three-week meeting.
"Our church would be enriched if we were able to invite dedicated Catholics, currently excluded from the Eucharist, to return to the Lord's table," he argued.
"There are those whose first marriages ended in sadness; they have never abandoned the church but are currently excluded from the Eucharist," he said.
There are up to seven million divorced and remarried Catholics in the US alone. In Germany, where the problem is often discussed, the bishops asked the Vatican in 1994 to consider a reform, but were rebuffed by Benedict, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was then the church's top doctrinal authority.
"This synod must be pastoral in approach. We must look for ways to include those who are hungering for the bread of life," Dr Dew said. "The scandal of those hungering for eucharistic food needs to be addressed, just as the scandal of physical hunger needs to be addressed."
Under current rules, those who remarry outside the church can only receive communion if they abstain from sexual relations with their new partner, because the church considers their first marriage still valid.
While the late Pope John Paul was firm on their exclusion from the Eucharist, Pope Benedict has indicated that he might be more flexible.
He told priests in July that the plight of the divorced and remarried should undergo further "study" because theirs was "a particularly painful situation".
The Pope said at the time that such Catholics should be welcomed into parishes even if they could not receive communion.
Meanwhile Archbishop William Levada, the Pope's successor as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, has called on the synod to discuss whether Catholic politicians who support abortion should be allowed to receive communion.
The issue divided US Catholics last year during the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry, who is Catholic and supports abortion rights.
Dr Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco, made the request during informal talks with the bishops on Monday night, according to Fr John Bartunek, a priest who briefed reporters about the closed-door sessions.
Dr Levada (68) as head of the congregation oversees Catholic doctrine and is the highest-ranking American in the Vatican.- (Reuters)