VALLADOLID, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Luis Argüello has said that Catholics living in a “new marital relationship” after the “breakdown” of a valid sacramental marriage cannot receive Holy Communion.
On June 1, Luis Argüello, archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, issued a pastoral letter for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in which he reaffirmed the conditions for the reception of Holy Communion. The message, published as part of his diocesan pastoral program for the first half of June, reiterated Catholic Traditional teaching on Eucharistic discipline and sacramental marriage, while also addressing other situations he described as “incompatible” with receiving the Eucharist, including “participating in a sinful relationship,” various forms of abuse, and “publicly defending positions contrary to Christian morality.”
“When a marital relationship has broken down and those who were part of that marriage are living a new conjugal relationship,” Communion cannot be received, the archbishop said, adding, “this breaking of the Sacrament of the Covenant prevents Eucharistic communion.”
READ: Argentine priest in ‘Minions’ hat makes fruit salad during Pentecost Mass to explain Holy Spirit
Argüello stated that those affected remain members of the Church, but that such conditions constitute an objective rupture of sacramental communion that prevents access to the Eucharist. The pastoral intervention comes as Spain prepares for Corpus Christi celebrations later in June and as Argüello is set to accompany Pope Leo XIV on an apostolic visit to Spain, scheduled from June 6 to 12.
In the same reflection, Argüello stressed that individuals in such situations may continue to participate in ecclesial life in various ways, while clarifying that Eucharistic reception is excluded. “They may participate in the celebration, as well as in the life of the Church in many ways, but receiving Holy Communion is not possible,” he said.
He also extended the scope of the disciplinary reminder beyond the specific case of “remarriage” after divorce, including participation in what he described as sinful conduct and “abusing other people, whether in the economic, labor, psychological, or emotional” contexts, as well as public advocacy of positions contrary to Christian moral teaching.
A central passage of the text states, “In those cases, we cannot approach Communion without a firm decision to change our lives, making reparation for the damage caused by our situation of sin,” thus emphasizing the requirement of a “firm decision to change” as a necessary condition linked to the moral state of the individual prior to Eucharistic participation.
The same pastoral letter provides a clarifying statement that “this breaking of the Sacrament of the Covenant prevents Eucharistic communion,” thereby grounding the prohibition in an objective sacramental condition rather than in the subjective intention alone.
In this framework, persisting in a sexual relationship considered incompatible with an existing sacramental marriage is described as constituting an impediment to Eucharistic reception, regardless of internal resolution.
The letter also connects Eucharistic discipline to the sacrament of penance, stating that grave sin requires sacramental reconciliation when it “blocks the entry of the living Lord into the heart,” as part of proper preparation for Communion.
READ: Pope Leo names EWTN News president as first woman to lead Roman curia office
This reaffirmation of Traditional doctrine openly contradicts novelties introduced by Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia, where we read: “Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any ‘irregular’ situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace” (par. 301).
Francis’s apostolic exhortation implicitly suggested the possibility of giving Communion to the divorced and civilly “remarried.” This was confirmed explicitly by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in September 2023, responding to a dubium from Cardinal Dominik Duka, and earlier still by affirming the interpretation of the Buenos Aires bishops in a letter presented as “authentic magisterium.” If accepted, the thesis would undermine not only the Church’s perennial doctrine on marriage, but also that on the Eucharist and confession.
Catholic doctrine holds that a valid sacramental marriage is indissoluble. Based on this principle, the Church teaches that a person who enters a new conjugal union while the previous sacramental marriage remains valid is ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion, due to the objective inconsistency between such a state of life and Eucharistic reception.