Pope Francis reportedly has said the "great
majority" of Catholic marriages being celebrated today are
invalid because couples do not fully realize it is a lifetime
commitment, drawing sharp criticism from Church conservatives.
According to Reuters, the pope, who has come under fire
before for making spontaneous comments about doctrinal matters, was
speaking at a question-and-answer session with priests, nuns and
parish workers on Thursday night in a Rome basilica.
"We are living in a provisional
culture," Francis said in response to a man who spoke of "the
crisis of marriage" and asked how the Church could better
prepare young couples.
"Because of this, a great majority
of our sacramental marriages are null because they (the couple) say
'yes, for the rest of my life' but they don't know what they are
saying because they have a different culture," Francis said.
In the Vatican's transcript issued on
Friday morning his words were changed to read "some"
instead of "a great majority". A Vatican spokesman said the
pope's off-the-cuff remarks are sometimes edited after consulting
with him or among aides.
Critics appeared to take the pope's
words as a suggestion that most Catholics do not take their marriage
vows seriously.
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