Cardinal Burke says he is “sympathetic” to marriage difficulties

Don't mind us, just paparizzing you in the parking lot

He was speaking to the podcast Thinking With the Church, and said too many people he meets are concerned and confused by the ongoing debate on the issue.

“In the whole history of the Church, it’s never been possible that someone who was living publicly in a state of sin, for example a person who is bound in matrimony to one person, is living in a marital way with another person, it has never been permitted that such a person could approach to receive Holy Communion,” the cardinal said in his latest interview.

“Now, suddenly, there are those, who are saying, ‘Oh, yes, but it is possible in certain cases,’ and so forth - but if this is something that is always and everywhere wrong, how is it possible that someone who is living this way can receive the Sacraments?”

Burke said couples in such situations - for a just reason - may receive the sacraments if they refrain from sexual situations.

“The Church has always helped such couples,” he said, “… the point is this: that the couple has the firm resolve to live chastely, and to take all measures to live chastely. If they fail, on one occasion or another, then they simply have to confess that, and renew their effort to live chastely.”

full article at Crux