(TELEGRAPH) — Pope Francis reportedly told a woman “living in sin” with a divorcee that she is free to take Holy Communion, in what appears to be a significant departure from Catholic teaching.
Jacqui Lisbona, who is from the Pope’s homeland of Argentina, wrote to the Jesuit pontiff to tell him that she had been refused Communion by her local priest, who objected to the fact that she was married to a previously divorced man.
Prohibited from marrying in church, they had instead opted for a civil ceremony.
“[The priest] told me that every time I went home, I was going back to living in sin,” she said.