Et intervju med (pensjonerte) kardinal Kasper i Commonweal har fått mye oppmerksomhet de siste par dagene. Her sier han mye interessant om utfordringer Kirken har rundt ekteskapet (bl.a. om hvorfor en grundig forberedelse/katekese er nødvendig før man gifter seg katolsk). Her er et lite utdrag:
That’s a real problem. I’ve spoken to the pope himself about this, and he said he believes that 50 percent of marriages are not valid. Marriage is a sacrament. A sacrament presupposes faith. And if the couple only want a bourgeois ceremony in a church because it’s more beautiful, more romantic, than a civil ceremony, you have to ask whether there was faith, and whether they really accepted all the conditions of a valid sacramental marriage—that is, unity, exclusivity, and also indissolubility. The couples, when they get married, they want it because it’s stable. But many think, “Well, if we fail, we have the right.” And then already the principle is denied. Many canon lawyers tell me that today in our pluralistic situation we cannot presuppose that couples really assent to what the church requires. Often it is also ignorance. Therefore you have to emphasize and to strengthen prematrimonial catechesis. It’s often done in a very bureaucratic way. No, we have to provide catechesis. I know some parishes in Rome where couples have to attend catechesis, and the pastor himself does it. We must do much more in prematrimonial catechesis and use pastoral work and so on because we cannot presuppose that everybody who is a formal Christian also has the faith. It wouldn’t be realistic.
Men når han her sier at pave Frans selv mener at halvparten av alle ekteskap er ugyldige, har mange reagert ganske kraftig – men Vatikanet her selv ikke kommentert dette så langt. Kirkerettseksperten Peters har kommentert dette slik (les gjerne videre selv):
Cdl. Kasper’s claim cannot be ignored
I understand Fr. Lombardi’s unwillingness to comment on statements allegedly made by the pope to private persons. I’m not sure his ‘No Comment’ policy can be observed in the long run, but I understand why he wants to avoid questions about private papal conversations. But Cdl. Kasper’s shocking claim that the pope believes half of all marriages to be invalid, is different. Very, very different.