“There are no exceptions to a moral absolute.” —Dr. Eduardo Echeverria, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Eduardo Echeverria, author of Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II, which unpacks some of the conflicting views of Amoris Laetitia in its fourth chapter, participated in “Amoris Laetitia: Conflicting Interpretations” on August 28. During the discussion, Echeverria, whose latest book, Are We Together?: A Roman Catholic Analyzes Evangelical Protestants was just published in June, discussed his interpretation of the apostolic exhortation, which stands in contrast to that of Pedro Gabriel, author of The Orthodoxy of Amoris Laetitia. Pedro shared his interpretation, and the two discussed the document from their unique view points.
The most debated topic of the exhortation is Pope Francis’s extension of the ability to receive Communion to those who are divorced (living in objective sin), but are not morally culpable (due to subjective mitigating factors). Gabriel defended the exhortation as fully orthodox while Echeverria argued that it fails to take seriously enough the reality of sin.
The discussion includes opening statements by Gabriel and Echeverria, remarks from both on the five dubia, and closing statements by each.