Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 11, 1993 TAG: 9310110017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROME LENGTH: Short
A conference of Italian bishops told church followers Friday that remarried divorcees, unmarried couples and separated Roman Catholics will be allowed to receive church sacraments only if they promise to give up sex.
In Italy, where most people call themselves Roman Catholic but often diverge from church edicts, a common reaction was outrage.
"This sets the church back at least 200 years," said popular television host Pippo Baudo, who is divorced and remarried.
The bishops' "Pastoral Familial Directorate" was issued three days after Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" (The Splendor of Truth). The long-awaited encyclical reaffirmed the Vatican's intolerance of those seeking to amend basic church tenets, such as the ban on divorce.
According to the bishops' document, Roman Catholics "should live the life of a Christian" in order to receive the sacraments, said Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who presented the paper at the Vatican.
Remarried divorcees can take full part in church life only if they "interrupt their sexual life and transform the bond into one of friendship, esteem and reciprocal help," the directive said.
The document also said the person "morally responsible" for a divorce should "repent and make up for damage caused."
by CNB