Abstract

Amoris laetitia does not expressly permit or demand in terms of a new binding regulation that remarried divorced persons be admitted to the sacraments. Instead, what is required is a new way of dealing with “irregular situations”, and the document mentions principles which are supposed to serve as guidelines for dealing with individual cases. On the one hand, the article seeks to show that in light of a long running doctrinal development which is now being continued in Amoris laetitia, the admission of remarried divorced persons will be inevitable for the Church. On the other hand, it provides an analysis of the pastoral and moral theological principles which ought to guide and legitimate the “distinction” in individual cases (attention and support; assessment of the situation; maximum inclusion; mitigating circumstances; distinction between the norm and its application). It is argued that from a systematic perspective gradualness can be considered as the key principle from which the other principles can best be understood and integrated.