Check out the CURRENT EVENTS page for more info on what the Pope is doing!

art87

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Seeking to end debate on the issue, the Vatican on Thursday strongly reaffirmed its prohibition on divorced and remarried Roman Catholics receiving communion.

The authoritative declaration restated that the only exception would be couples who refrain from sexual relations.

Catholics in the United States, Germany and elsewhere have been pressing the Vatican to loosen the restriction.

The Vatican said it issued the declaration because some theologians "using a variety of arguments" had claimed there were loopholes in church rules that would allow those who divorce and remarry to receive communion.

But the statement said the restriction is based on "divine law" and cannot be modified.

It said pastors should avoid instances of public denial of communion, explaining the reason to those couples "in such a way that they would be able to understand it or at least respect it."

"In those situations, however, in which these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible, the minister of communion must refuse to distribute it to those who are publicly unworthy," the statement said.

It stressed the declaration did not contradict the desire for those Catholics to participate in church life "in the many forms compatible with their situation that is already possible for them."

In the Catholic church, civil divorce does not entail exclusion from the sacraments. But a person is excluded if he or she remarries outside the church while bound in the church's eyes by a valid previous marriage.

The declaration was issued by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, taking into account the views of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and two other Vatican offices.

AP-ES-07-06-00 1245EDT