'People's Pope' Calls for Change of Church Communion Rules

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Apr 25, 2014

'People's Pope' Calls for Change of Church Communion Rules

Pope Francis is calling for a reform of the Catholic Church’s communion rules. According to the current set of regulations, divorced Catholics are not permitted to take communion, but the Pope personally called one woman to exempt her from the rule.

Jacqueline Sabetta Lisbona is married to Julio Sabetta, a divorced man. The two have been married for 19 years and have two children CNN reported.

Lisbona wrote to the Pope Francis for clarification of the communion rules; she had never been divorced, but married a divorced man.

The Pope responded personally via phone. “She spoke with the Pope, and he said she was absolved of all sins and that she could go and get the Holy Communion because she was not doing anything wrong,” Sabetta said of his wife.

The People’s Pope, as Pope Francis is called by some admirers, is now calling for changes to be made with the rules of Holy Communion.

“I think this is the moment for mercy,” Pope Francis said of divorced Catholics.



'People's Pope' Calls for Change of Church Communion Rules