At a meeting in the Vatican, senior Vatican officials and members of the German Bishops conference held a conversation on a set of pastoral guidelines announced in February. According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, released in the wake of the encounter, the meeting took place in a cordial and fraternal atmosphere. The German Bishops’ Conference at the time approved the development of the guidelines, which would potentially broaden permission for non-Catholic Christians who are married to Catholics to receive Holy Communion.
As reported by Vatican Radio, during the conversation, which took place in German, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, His Grace Archbishop Luis Ladaria, explained that Pope Francis “appreciates the ecumenical commitment of the German Bishops” and asks them to seek “a possibly unanimous arrangement”.
