Divorced Catholics who remarry should be urged by priests
to stop living in a "state of sin," meaning no sex in the new
relationship, the Vatican said yesterday.

Priests also should counsel those who have not remarried to
remain faithful to thier original vows and not enter into other
unions, according to guidelines issued by the Pontifical Council
on the Family.

The council released its recommendations after a meeting last month
devoted to divorced but remarried Catholics.

It told priests to show compassion for Catholics whose marriages have
failed, and noted that Pope John Paul has said the divorced who remarry
still belong to the church.

But the church "must not express any sign, public or private, that could
appear to be a legitimization of the new union," the document said.

Preists should invite such couples "to recognize their irregular
situation, which involves a state of sin, and ask God for the grace of a
true conversion."

Vatican officials said that means couples should abstain from sex.

SOURCE:
The Calgary Sun
March 3, 1997