Juan Ignacio Bañares, professor of the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra, Juan Ignacio Bañares, directed last March 20 a seminar of professors on "New evangelization and Synod of the Family: doctrinal presuppositions and pastoral developments".

He explained that we are currently in the preparatory phase of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops that will deal with the family and will take place in Rome in September 2014. A first form on the status questionis has been sent to the bishops of the dioceses and institutions of the Church around the world asking for data, even though in some media it has been presented as a "survey of opinion" in the Church. The Pope wants all the questions that are on the street to be raised: he does not want a sleeping Church, but a lively Church. Therefore, until this first Synod in September, what will be collected are data and questions about marriage and the family, beliefs and the coherence of life of the faithful throughout the Catholic world. With the results of this first Synod, an Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the same topic topic will be prepared for October 2015. There, adequate answers to the questions raised should be presented. Finally, the Roman Pontiff will study the proposals of this Synod and will foreseeably publish an Apostolic Exhortation that will gather and develop what he deems appropriate.

The question, therefore, is broad and does not only deal with the reception of Eucharistic communion by divorced and remarried people, although recently this topic has returned to the forefront on the occasion of the last Consistory of Cardinals held in February of this year. For this reason, speaker went through the documents published by the Holy See in the last 20 years expressly referring to this topic: a Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to all bishops (1994), a document of Cardinal Ratzinger (1998), the Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis of Benedict XVI (2007) and a article of Cardinal Müller, current Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published in L'Osservatore Romano in October 2013.

Bañares recalled that these Christians (divorced and remarried) are not in a position to have access to Eucharistic Communion without due repentance and correction of conduct, but at the same time he emphasized that the attitude and the horizon of pastoral action with these faithful requires positive attention, a particular welcome and accompaniment, trying to make use of the many means they can use and to bring them back to the ecclesial community, from which they have never been excluded: "It is necessary to combine fidelity to the mandate of Jesus Christ, mercy and attention to people."

During the question-and-answer session, the need for a profound reflection was stressed, because the very notions of courtship and marriage have become blurred and sometimes confused. It is also necessary to encourage and involve well-structured and believing families in pastoral activity, who can collaborate and also be a reference point for others.