Pope Francis called for a more open church on Wednesday, saying that those who divorce and those who remarry should be embraced by the Catholic community, according to CNN.
This goes against the traditional belief that Catholics who divorce are doing so against the church's wishes, and are therefore living in sin, according to the Associated Press. They are also banned from receiving communion. These traditions beliefs often leave many feeling shunned by their church.
The Pope called for more openness in terms of divorced parents and also acknowledged the negative treatment of children whose parents are divorced, according to CNN.
"We must not add more weight to what children in these situations already have to bear," the Pope said, according to CNN.
Pope Francis has not officially called for the ban on receiving communion to be lifted, but did urge the church not to treat these remarried Catholics as though they were "excommunicated," according to TIME.
"People who started a new union after the defeat of their sacramental marriage are not at all excommunicated, and they absolutely must not be treated that way," Pope Francis said to a crowd in Rome on Wednesday, according to the AP.
The ban on Catholics who divorce or remarry from receiving communion is a practice that Catholic bishops plan on reviewing at the Vatican in October, according to CNN.
