Bishop Steven Lopes, head of the American branch of the Ordinariate, has released a pastoral letter which reaffirms traditional Church teaching on Communion for the remarried.
On Friday, the bishops of Malta stated that remarried people might find it “impossible” to live as brother and sister, and could therefore take Communion if they felt “at peace with God”.
But the Ordinariate document, which has been sent to all 42 Ordinariate parishes and communities in the US, repeats the teaching of Popes including John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It says divorced and civilly remarried couples can receive Communion only if they are “committed to complete continence”.
