Vatican - People who had been baptised and started a relationship after their marriages failed were not excommunicated, the Pope said at Wednesday's General Audience.
They were still part of the Church and should be encouraged to participate in its life. He said he wanted to draw attention to how to look after those who had entered into new unions following the irreversible breakdown of their marriages, in his 100th General Audience. "The Church knows well that such a situation contradicts the Christian Sacrament," he said.
However, he continued, the Church, as a Mother, always seeks the good and salvation of her children. The Church had never shut the door on anyone, he repeated several times, stressing the need to encourage them, with their families, to participate in the life of the Church: through prayer, listening to the Word of God, going to Mass, the Christian education of their children, and service to the poor, through commitment to peace and justice. He said the biblical icon of the Good Shepherd embodied God's mission to Jesus, giving one's life for one's sheep. This was a model for the Church, which welcomes its children like a mother who gives her life for them. The Church had a duty to remain open, no doors should be closed. Everyone could take part in ecclesiastical life in some way, everyone could be part of the community. The Church is the paternal home where there was room for everybody with their trials and tribulations, he added. At his previous audience, before the summer break, he talked about families hurt by lack of understanding between couples. (AGI)
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