According to Michael W. Chapman of CNSNews, “The Pope’s letter, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) is ambiguous in several areas and apparently leaves open the possibility for divorced/remarried Catholics to receive Communion, which is contrary to millennia-old Church teaching.” Pope Francis, who is supposedly Christ’s representative on earth, has yet to clear up the ambiguity. Chapman writes:
Although not a few Catholic bishops and lay theologians have asked Pope Francis to clearly state whether his letter on the family, Amoris Laetitia, permits divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion at Mass, Bishop James Conley, who heads the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., has made it crystal clear to all his priests that couples in such situations — objectively in a state of adultery — are not to receive the sacrament.
“The Lord calls those who are divorced and civilly remarried, or who are cohabiting, to continence,” said Bishop Conley in a Dec. 5 letter to the priests in his diocese. “Like every person conscious of grave sin, divorced and civilly remarried Catholics who engage in ongoing sexual relationships may not approach Holy Communion.”