On the Interpretations of Amoris Laetitia: An Attempt to Clear Certain Doubts

Konrad GLOMBIK

Abstract

The article elaborates on the controversial issues allegedly introduced by Pope Francis’s Postsynodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia and widely discussed in the commentaries on the document in question and in its interpretations. The author scrutinizes four basic and most frequently formulated doubts regarding the exhortation, in particular the issue of whether access to the sacraments of penance and Eucharist should be provided for divorced persons who have remarried and live in non-sacramental unions. The author attempts to answer the question of whether Amoris Laetitia indeed introduces a change in the existing pastoral practice. The issue is related to that of the participation of divorced and remarried persons in the sacramental life of the Church, as well as to the broader problem of understanding the sacraments. Another issue discussed in the article in relation to Amoris Laetitia concerns the important Catholic teaching on intrinsically evil acts, and the problem of subjective guilt in a situation when objective, unjustifiable evil has been committed. The final issue addressed by the author is that of the sexual union of spouses and its significance to the union a divorced person enters while remarrying. Based on the available commentaries on Amoris Laetitia and its interpretations, those critical of the document as well as those favorable towards it, the author attempts to clear the doubts that surround the exhortation, simultaneously pointing to some of its aspects that demand further analysis. Thus the article provides another opinion in the modern day complex debate on marriage and the family. According to the author, Amoris Laetitia shows the continuity of the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and the family although, unlike the previous documents addressing the same issues, it explains the problems in question from the pastoral perspective, showing the spectrum of the application of the teaching of the Church, rather than focusing on the presentation of the doctrine.

Translated by Dorota Chabrajska