Pope Leo seeks status update of Francis’ divisive opening to divorced and remarried Catholics

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Ten years after Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Catholic Church with his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, Pope Leo XIV is inviting church leaders to Rome next week to understand how Francis’ document has been implemented.

Vatican officials on Friday stressed that Francis’ 2016 text “The Joy of Love” isn’t up for rewriting, amending or scrapping. Rather, the weeklong closed-door conference starting Wednesday is meant to understand how bishops have incorporated the document’s teaching into their local communities.

Francis’ document covers a host of issues relating to how the Catholic Church can better minister to families today. But when it was released after a yearslong consultation, “The Joy of Love” immediately sparked controversy because it opened the door to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics obtain an annulment — a church decree that their first marriage was invalid — they cannot receive the sacraments, since they are seen as living in sin and committing adultery.…