Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Amoris Laetitia - Par. 248


248.  "Marriages involving disparity of cult represent a privileged place for interreligious dialogue in everyday life...  They involve special difficulties regarding both the Christian identity of the family and the religious upbringing of the children...  The number of households with married couples with disparity of cult, on the rise in mission territories, and even in countries of long Christian tradition, urgently required providing a differentiated pastoral care according to various social and cultural contexts.  In some countries where freedom of religion does not exist, the Christian spouse is obliged to convert to another religion in order to marry, and, therefore, cannot celebrate a canonical marriage involving disparity of cult or baptize the children.  We must therefore reiterate the necessity that the religious freedom of all be respected".272  "Attention needs to be given to the persons who enter such marriages, not only in the period before the wedding.  Unique challenges face couples and families in which one partner is Catholic and the other is a non-believer.  In such cases, bearing witness to the ability of the gospel to immerse itself in these situations will make possible the upbringing of their children in the Christian faith".273

272 Ibid., 73.
273 Ibid., 74.

© LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.