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 John-Henry Westen / LifeSiteNews

January 6, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – In an interview with the Wanderer published Monday, Vatican Cardinal Raymond Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, voiced grave misgivings about the Synod on the Family’s final report, released in English three weeks ago.  The cardinal referred to the fact that the final report, while quoting John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio, omitted the key line that affirms the Church’s practice of “not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried.” Cardinal Burke said, “The final report’s paragraph on this topic is deceptive in a very serious way.”

“It gives the false impression,” he said, that the Church has a way open for access to the sacraments by remarried divorcees without living chastely. “It is just the opposite,” added Burke.

While the cardinal acknowledged that “there are many good things in the final report,” he noted several areas needing clarification. “I do not think the statement about parental responsibility for education is adequately stated,” he said. “It could give the impression that parents are not the first ones who are responsible for the education of their children.”

The Vatican cardinal called for a revitalized catechesis of the faithful with particular attention to teachings on marriage and family. “If we know — as surely we do — that the culture is completely opposed to the teaching contained in [Humanae Vitae and Familiaris Consortio], if we know — as surely we do — that many of the faithful are not well catechized and will tend to go along with what the culture thinks rather than what the Church teaches, then we must realize that it is incumbent upon us to evangelize with regard to marriage and family as if for the first time. In my judgment, that is the sole answer.”

For the full interview with Cardinal Burke see the Wanderer.