Saturday, October 11, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About TimeAfrica Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » News » Vatican: Having child out of wedlock does not bar access to sacraments

Vatican: Having child out of wedlock does not bar access to sacraments

December 16, 2023
in News
0
Maryknoll Father John Siyumbu distributes Communion during his ordination to the priesthood at the Maryknoll Society Center in Maryknoll, N.Y., June 3, 2022. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, celebrated the ordination Mass. Father Siyumbu, who is from Bungoma, Kenya, is the first seminarian from East Africa to be ordained a Maryknoll priest. He will serve in Latin America. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Maryknoll Father John Siyumbu distributes Communion during his ordination to the priesthood at the Maryknoll Society Center in Maryknoll, N.Y., June 3, 2022. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, celebrated the ordination Mass. Father Siyumbu, who is from Bungoma, Kenya, is the first seminarian from East Africa to be ordained a Maryknoll priest. He will serve in Latin America. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

551
SHARES
4.6k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

VATICAN (CNS) — Women who have conceived a child out of wedlock and have the courage to choose life for their baby “should be encouraged to have access to the healing and consoling power of the sacraments,” said the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the dicastery prefect, was responding to a question from a bishop expressing concern for single mothers who abstain from the sacraments fearing the rigidity of their pastors and judgment from Catholics in their parishes.

“It is noted that in some countries, both priests and some lay people prevent mothers who have had a child outside of marriage from accessing the sacraments and even baptizing their children,” said the cardinal’s reply, which was approved by Pope Francis Dec. 13 and was posted on the dicastery’s website the next day.

Cardinal Fernández noted that Pope Francis had addressed the issue in 2012 when he was still archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“There are priests who do not baptize the children of single mothers because (the children) were not conceived in the sanctity of marriage. They are the hypocrites of today,” the future pope had said. “They turn God’s people away from salvation.”

ReadAlso

Pope Leo holding inaugural mass at the Vatican in front of thousands as crowds chant ‘Viva il Papa’

Corpse of Saint Teresa goes on display for the first time in a century

“And,” he had said, “that poor girl, who could have sent her child back to the sender but had the courage to bring him into the world, goes on pilgrimage from parish to parish to have him baptized.”

The cardinal also quoted Pope Francis’ remarks in 2015 to a virtual townhall meeting organized by ABC News with people in the United States.

ADVERTISEMENT

Speaking to a mother in Los Angeles, the pope told her, “I know that it is not easy to be a single mother. I know that people can sometimes look down on you. But I want to tell you something: you are a brave woman because you were able to bring these two daughters into the world. You could have killed them in your womb, yet you respected life: you respected the life you had inside you, and God will reward you for that, and he does reward you.”

Cardinal Fernández said that Catholics should be educated to know that “being a single mother does not prevent that person from accessing the Eucharist.”

Like with any Catholic, he said, the “sacramental confession of sins allows the person to approach communion. The ecclesial community should, furthermore, value the fact that single mothers welcomed and defended the gift of life they carried in their wombs and struggle every day to raise their children.”

And, the cardinal said, if there is a situation where a woman “sometimes resorts to selling her body to support her family,” the reaction of the parish must be “to do everything possible to help her avoid this very serious risk rather than judge her harshly.”

People like to quote Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery: “sin no more,” the cardinal wrote.

“Certainly, Jesus always invites us to change our lives, to respond more faithfully to God’s will, and to live with greater dignity. However, this phrase does not constitute the central message of this Gospel pericope, which is simply the invitation to recognize that no one can cast the first stone.”

In his response to the letter sent by Bishop Ramón de la Cruz Baldera of San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic, Cardinal Fernández also quoted from Pope Francis’ 2016 exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia,” on marriage and family life.

“Referring to mothers who must raise their children alone,” he said, Pope Francis “reminds us that ‘in such difficult situations of need, the Church must be particularly concerned to offer understanding, comfort and acceptance, rather than imposing straightaway a set of rules that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy.”

Tags: SacramentsVatican
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Kuwait’s Ruling Emir Dies at 86

Next Post

Holy Crime: Cardinal Jailed Over Major Vatican Financial Crimes

You MayAlso Like

News

AfDB, WFP and IFPRI launch innovative investment in food systems in Northern Nigeria

October 11, 2025
News

Rev. Fr. Edwin Obiorah Latest Lies, Manipulation of Tansian University Exposed

October 11, 2025
Built in 1998, the Azito Thermal Power Plant generates two thirds of the energy produced in Côte d’Ivoire. The Phase IV expansion project is currently underway to meet growing demand. © Erick Kaglan, World Bank
News

Japanese and Nigerian Firms to Oversee Major Upgrade of Côte d’Ivoire’s Power 

October 11, 2025
News

Expert Urges Africa to Fix, Not Abandon, the ICC

October 11, 2025
News

No More Excuses: King Mohammed VI Demands Overhaul of Morocco’s Healthcare, Education Systems

October 11, 2025
News

President Tinubu Pardons Herbert Macaulay, Vatsa, Lawan, Grants Clemency to 82 Inmates

October 9, 2025
Next Post
Cardinal Angelo Becciu

Holy Crime: Cardinal Jailed Over Major Vatican Financial Crimes

Migrant boats in the Mediterranean (file pic) are often overcrowded and unstable

More than 60 migrants feared drowned off Libya coast

Discussion about this post

Kingdom in Crisis: Ogwashi-Uku Rejects Obi’s Land Grab, Villages Ready to Declare Autonomy

Faked or Factual: UNN Contradictory Claims on Minister Uche Nnaji Certificate Raise Questions of Credibility

A Minister of Lies?: Uche Nnaji’s Certificate Scandal and the Collapse of Credibility in Nigerian Governance

Nigeria’s Anglican Church Rescinds Ties with Canterbury Amid Controversy Over ‘Pro-Gay’ Female Archbishop

Uche Nnaji Finally Breaks Silence on Certificate Forgery

Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology Resigns

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1242 shares
    Share 497 Tweet 311
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1067 shares
    Share 427 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    974 shares
    Share 390 Tweet 244
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    905 shares
    Share 362 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    736 shares
    Share 294 Tweet 184
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0

AfDB, WFP and IFPRI launch innovative investment in food systems in Northern Nigeria

October 11, 2025

Rev. Fr. Edwin Obiorah Latest Lies, Manipulation of Tansian University Exposed

October 11, 2025
Built in 1998, the Azito Thermal Power Plant generates two thirds of the energy produced in Côte d’Ivoire. The Phase IV expansion project is currently underway to meet growing demand. © Erick Kaglan, World Bank

Japanese and Nigerian Firms to Oversee Major Upgrade of Côte d’Ivoire’s Power 

October 11, 2025

The Woman Who Wants to End Cameroon’s Paul Biya 43-Year Rule

October 11, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About TimeAfrica Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.