Worldly concerns poisoned us, weeds of suspicion increased our distance and we ceased to nurture communion," Francis told Ieronymos, whom he met during his first trip to Greece in 2016. "Tragically, in later times we grew apart. In his address to the archbishop, Beatitude Ieronymos II, Francis asked forgiveness in the name of the Roman Catholic Church for its part in the historical wrongs that led to the breakup. Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics obtain an annulment - a church decree that their first marriage was invalid - they cannot receive the sacraments, since they are seen as committing adultery.Francis arrived in Greece on Saturday for a three-day visit that Greek Catholics hope will bring the Eastern and Western churches closer together.Ĭhristianity split into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in 1054 in what is referred to as the Great Schism, and for centuries relations were rocky. When it was released in April 2016, “The Joy of Love” immediately sparked controversy because it opened the door to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion. “There is a role for theologians and philosophers to explain to people the church’s teaching, to correct misunderstandings,” said Joseph Shaw, a spokesman for the initiative, signatory of the correction and senior research fellow in moral philosophy at Oxford University. Several other signatories are well-known admirers of the old Latin Mass which Fellay’s followers celebrate.īut organizers said the initiative was nevertheless significant and a sign of the concern among a certain contingent of academics and pastors over Francis’ positions, which they said posed a danger to the faithful. None of the signatories of the new letter is a cardinal, and the highest-ranking churchman listed is actually someone whose organization has no legal standing in the Catholic Church: Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the breakaway Society of St. The Vatican spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment late Saturday. The initiative follows another formal act by four tradition-minded cardinals who wrote Francis last year asking him to clarify a series of questions, or “dubbia,” they had about his 2016 text.įrancis hasn’t responded to either initiative.
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