Pope shows change cannot be held back

WHEN, after several years of worldwide consultation, Pope Francis yesterday published Amoris Laetitia — The Joy of Love — he recognised that a code of rules cannot stand permanently fixed and remain relevant or even worthy in an endlessly changing world.

That he did this while remaining true to Catholicism’s bedrock beliefs must be regarded, by liberal Catholics at least, as something of an achievement. Where once there was only black or white authoritarianism, he has introduced the idea of grey and the possibility of renewed and continued inclusion sparked by that creative ambiguity. The process that led to the publication, as an exercise in marrying reality and long-standing, rigid codes more acknowledged in the breach than in observance, offers our two main political leaders and their parties an example of what can be achieved when the head rules the heart. This is especially pertinent when an organisation must modify its position or become marginalised and irrelevant — and, in essence, a barrier to progress. The pope has shown, once again, that well-considered compromise is the genesis of civilised evolution.

The Pope encouraged Catholicism to be less strict and more compassionate towards “imperfect” Catholics, citing those who divorced and remarried, saying “no one can be condemned forever”. Catholic teaching orders divorcees who remarry to have a celibate relationship with their new partner as their first marriage remains valid in the eyes of the Church. Those people are seen, by Catholicism at least, as living in an adulterous state of sin.