If the divorced and civilly remarried are not able to separate for serious reasons, such as the upbringing of children, and they assume the task of living in full continence, they can only receive the Communion privately ("remoto scandalo"), in order to avoid scandal.

[10] On 11 April 1973, Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), wrote to the president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (in the U.S.), "In regard to admission to the Sacraments the Ordinaries are asked on the one hand to stress observance of current discipline and, on the other hand, to take care that the pastors of souls exercise special care to seek out those who are living in an irregular union by applying to the solution of such cases, in addition to other right means, the Church’s approved practice in the internal forum (probatam Ecclesiae praxim in foro interno).” Following a request for clarification, on 21 March 1975, then Archbishop Jean Jérôme Hamer, secretary of the CDF, wrote, "I would like to state now that this phrase [probata praxis Ecclesiae] must be understood in the context of traditional moral theology.

[11] In 1981, Pope John Paul II issued the apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, which states, "the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried".

This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they 'take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.

[14] In 1993 German bishops Walter Kasper, Karl Lehmann, and Oskar Saier had a letter read in the churches of their dioceses saying this question of Communion for divorced Catholics "in complex, individual cases" needed to be addressed.

[15] In 1994, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a letter which states that divorced and civilly remarried persons cannot receive the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion unless, where they cannot separate due to serious reasons, such as the upbringing of children, "they 'take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples'".

With regard to divorced persons living in new unions, Benedict XVI states, "Finally, where the nullity of the marriage bond is not declared and objective circumstances make it impossible to cease cohabitation, the Church encourages these members of the faithful to commit themselves to living their relationship in fidelity to the demands of God's law, as friends, as brother and sister; in this way they will be able to return to the table of the Eucharist, taking care to observe the Church's established and approved practice in this regard".

The subject needs to be thoroughly examined, bearing in mind the distinction between an objective sinful situation and extenuating circumstances, given that "imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1735).

He said his own experience – his parents divorced when he was about 14 years old – made him thankful that the text "goes beyond the artificial, superficial, clear division between 'regular' and 'irregular', placing everyone under the common lens of the Gospel, in accordance with the words of St. Paul: 'God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.

The progressive "transformation of love" that takes place throughout the marriage is a point of focus, stressing that the ideal represented by the union cannot happen at once, and it is observed that longer lifespans necessitate a renewal of commitment.

The Pope encourages ethical formation, discipline, prudent punishment, realism, and sex education, warning against the tendencies to want to control every experience of children which results in a desire to dominate.

By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God', ... in the sense of this 'via caritatis', the Pope affirms, in a humble and simple manner, in a note that the help of the sacraments may also be given in 'certain cases'.

That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel'.In April 2016, after the release of Amoris laetitia, a journalist asked Pope Francis: "For a Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn't exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?"

[34][35][36] Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, said: "The fact that the Pope requested that his letter and the interpretations of the Buenos Aires bishops be published in the AAS means that His Holiness has given these documents a particular qualification that elevates them to the level of being official teachings of the church.

What he says is that instead they need a good priest to reach out to them, to accompany them, to help them discern their situation before the Lord and to enable them to develop, to change and to take their proper place in the Church’s life and mission".

If it is recognized that, in a specific case, there are limitations that mitigate liability and guilt (see 301 – 302), particularly when a person considers that he would fall on a further fault damaging the children of the new union, Amoris laetitia opens the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (see notes 336 and 351)".

[45] Bishop Steven J. Lopes, head of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, issued guidelines in January 2017 which state, "A civilly remarried couple, if committed to complete continence, could have the Eucharist available to them, after proper discernment with their pastor and making recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation.

Such a firm resolution to live in accordance with the teaching of Christ, relying always on the help of his grace, opens to them the possibility of celebrating the sacrament of Penance, which in turn may lead to the reception of Holy Communion at Mass".

In fact the internal forum is a conducive way to open our hearts to the most intimate confidences, and if a relationship of trust with a confessor or a spiritual guide has been established over time, you can start and develop with him a long journey of conversion: patient, with small steps and progressive inspections.

However, it must be clear that if one flaunts an objective sin as if it were part of the Christian ideal, or wants to impose something different from what the Church teaches, ... they need to hear again the proclamation of the Gospel and the invitation to conversion (AL 297)".

[66] In August 2016, Father Salvador Pie-Ninot, a professor of ecclesiology, wrote that Amoris laetitia is an example of the "ordinary magisterium," papal teaching to which Catholics are obliged to give "religious submission of will and intellect".

[67] In September 2016, four cardinals (Raymond Burke, Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmüller, Joachim Meisner) asked Pope Francis in a private letter for clarifications regarding Chapter 8 of Amoris laetitia.

[73] Oxford philosopher John Finnis and theologian Germain Grisez also expressed their concern in a detailed letter, requesting the pope to condemn eight positions against the Catholic faith "that are being supported, or likely will be, by the misuse" of Amoris laetitia.

[78] In January 2017, three Kazakhstan bishops issued a joint statement imploring prayer that Pope Francis will "confirm the unchanging praxis of the Church with regard to the truth of the indissolubility of marriage".

[80] On 14 February 2017, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which interprets Church law, authored a 50-page booklet stating that Chapter 8 of Amoris laetitia allows access to the sacraments for the divorced and civilly remarried only if they recognize that their situation is sinful and desire to change it.

[90] One year after the publication of the dubia, Cardinal Burke made a "final plea" to Pope Francis, mentioning the "continually worsening" gravity of the situation in the Church in the wake of the exhortation.

[92] In July 2017, a group of 40 (now over 260) Catholic clergy, lay scholars, and theologians signed and presented to Pope Francis a 25-page document entitled Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis (A Filial Correction Concerning the Propagation of Heresies).

The most prominent signatories were Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X, which has been at odds with the Holy See for decades; Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, former president of the Vatican bank; and Joseph Shaw, tutorial fellow in philosophy at Oxford University.

[99] The Profession states that some pastoral guidelines issued by bishops that allow the divorced and civilly remarried to receive the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion have caused confusion among the Catholic faithful and clergy.

Paglia stated that the care for injured family relationships found in Amoris laetitia is rooted in the teaching of Humane vitae on the "inseparable connection" between nuptial sexuality and responsible generation.