Portuguese diocese says divorced and remarried Catholics may receive Communion

The Archdiocese of Braga in Portugal has released a new guideline stating that divorced and remarried Catholics may receive Communion after undergoing a process of discernment for around six months.

The guideline, titled "Guidance Document of the Family Pastoral Care," outlined how Archbishop Jorge Ortiga would implement Amoris Laetitia, an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis about the family.

A Church teaching that was reaffirmed by Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI states that Communion is only possible if an individual resolves to live in "complete continence," but the new guidelines seemed to suggest that this is not necessary.

The document recommends a lengthy discernment, in which each person will meet regularly with a priest and reflect on their past actions and how they have affected family members and the community.

In a press conference, Ortiga announced the Archdiocesan Office for Welcoming and Support to the Family, which aims to help priests accompany discerning couples.

"This service intends to provide an integral and multidisciplinary accompaniment of the problems in the light of Christian anthropology and the truth about marriage and the family," the archbishop said, according to Church Militant.

He described the new office as a "listening center" that would help families "cope with difficulties they may experience throughout their lives," using a "multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary strategy involving specialized professionals and various archdiocesan institutions already operating with families."

Under a stage Ortiga calls "multidisciplinary accompaniment," couples will meet with a team of family, legal and pastoral counselors, which will consist of civil and canon lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists, a medical doctor and three Jesuit priests "for personalized accompaniment for discernment."

"After several steps and a course of a few months, it will ultimately be up to the couple to take the decision before God. The spiritual director is responsible for monitoring the process and ensure that it runs with complete normality," Ortiga stated.

Ortiga contended that it is not his priests' responsibility to grant a "general authorization to access the sacraments" but to accompany people in a "process of personal discernment of the internal forum."

The release of the new guideline came after five bishops signed a statement expressing their opposition to norms and guidelines that foresee the possibility of allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

Three bishops from Kazakhstan contended that no bishop or group of bishops has the authority to approve Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics unless the couple has received an annulment or has made a sincere pledge to abstain from sexual relations.

They stressed that the tradition of the church on Communion for remarried is binding because it is consistent with Jesus' teaching on marital indissolubility.