Rules on divorce and remarriage.

Vatican -- Commenting on the January 25, 1997 statement of the Pontifical Council for the Family on the pastoral care of divorced and remarried Catholics, Msgr. Francesco Di Felice, the Council's undersecretary, pointed out that Rome cannot alter its teaching on the indissolubility of marriage but that people in this situation must be encouraged to maintain their links with the Church.

"The Church is extremely sensitive to the sorrow of her members," he said. In order to receive the sacraments, those who have been remarried in a civil ceremony must either return to their original spouses, or refrain from sexual relations with their new partners. It is also obvious, the Monsignor said, that priests must help invalidly married Catholics who are convinced that their first marriages were invalid to gain annulments. He said too that "the Church, even when she cannot approve a practice in contrast with the Gospel, does not stop loving her children who are in irregular family situations"; she continues "to accompany them in their difficult itinerary of faith."

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