Francis didn't create a churchwide admission to Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics as some progressives had wanted. That document — called "The Joy of Love" — opened a door to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Divorced Catholics must abstain from sex, says US archbishopPHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania--The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is closing the door opened by Pope Francis to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion, saying the faithful in his archdiocese can only do so if they abstain from sex and live "as brother and sister." Church teaching says that unless divorced and remarried Catholics received an annulment — a church decree that their first marriage was invalid — they are committing adultery and cannot receive the sacrament of Communion. John Paul II, in his 1982 document on the family, proposed the brother-sister option for divorced and remarried couples as the only way they could receive Communion.

Source: The China Post July 07, 2016 17:48 UTC