Cardinal Brandmüller says family care must conform to doctrine
6 October 2014
Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, has given a strong interview to the Catholic News Agency in which he makes clear that:
“Under no circumstances can pastoral work be in contradiction with doctrine. Actions of the Church need to – if they want to be Catholic – correspond to faith and dogma … Every solution needs to be checked for compatibility with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”
He also made clear that:
“[I]f there is a marriage between a man and a woman, baptized Christian, which was valid and consummated, it is indissoluble. Only death can part them.”
Far from proposing dubious changes to the Church’s laws and disciplines relating to marriage, the Cardinal identified a desperate need for solid catechesis of the faithful:
“The questionnaire conducted as preparation to the Synod to show how marriage and family is perceived today, shows well that the Church in the last 50 years did not succeed in transmitting her teaching to the faithful,” he commented. “The lack of knowledge on what a sacramental marriage and a Christian family consists of, is alarming.”
“The synod’s main task will be to start a new wave of evangelization especially regarding this topic.”
Cardinal Walter Brandmüller is one of the five cardinals who have contributed to Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.
Voice of the Family is an international lay coalition of major pro-life and pro-family organizations that has formed to offer expertise and resources to leaders of the church, the media, NGOs, and governments before, during, and after the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family. The Synod will be held from October 5 to 19 in Rome. Read more about Voice of the Family
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