Interpreting Chapter Eight of Amoris Laetitia in Light of the Incarnation

Abstract

This paper addresses the disputed question of whether Amoris Laetitia authorizes a change in the sacramental discipline of the Church regarding the reception of the Eucharist by civilly divorced and re-married Catholics. Healy suggests that an adequate answer to this question requires thinking about how the mystery of the Incarnation discloses and grounds the unity of faith and the moral life. Christian witness to the truth of the Incarnation, the indissolubility of marriage, and the presence of Christ in his Eucharistic sacrifice, is measured not only in the interior intimacy of the conscience of each individual, but in an action of the body. The paper includes a critical engagement with the thought of Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández.