혼인성사에 대한 재고찰: 제2차 바티칸 공의회 이후 근본적인 변화가 있는가(세계주교대의원회의 제3차 임시총회의 보고서에 드러난 내용을 중심으로)

Abstract

This article aims first to introduce the contents of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in Vatican City on 5–19 October 2014 on the topic of Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization. This synod was a gathering in preparation for a regular synod with the same theme in October 2015. The participants, not only bishops but also some lay people, actively discussed problems facing the family today, including sexual orientation, cohabitation, the breakdown of marriage, and divorce and remarriage and their possibility of communion, etc. The synod was characterized by the fact that all the participants, including lay married faithful, could express their opinions with a spirit of freedom. It was possible because Pope Francis allowed the method of discernment with the Holy Spirit. In some sensitive issues of sexual orientation, cohabitation, and divorce and remarriage and their possibility of communion, however, the synod bishops revealed the theological disagreements. Receiving the results, Pope Francis asked the theologians in the world to deepen the theological insights that might help to resolve the problems what the modern society’s marital phenomena confront. In the later part of this article, the author tries to respond to the Pope’s request. This article specially focuses on the matter of indissolubility. This article argues that there has been an unresolved tension between the ‘law-based’ old Scholastic thinking and the contemporary Roman Catholic Church’s ‘person and relationship-centered’ thinking on sex, marriage, and family. This article argues that the contemporary Church, as the bride of Christ, can more correctly grasp the theological meaning of indissolubility when she tries to recover the biblical meaning of ‘sex’ and ‘relationship.’ ‘Sex’ should be regarded as a special gift from God to deepen this relationality. This new understanding demands that we are to overcome some negative impressions given to the Western Christian tradition after Augustine. By understanding sex as a sacramental tool to experience God’s grace, the Christian theology of marriage may more correctly approach the Gospel insight of indissolubility, because Jesus’ message of marriage or his message of indissolubility are not based on law itself but on God’s divine mercy, which invites all human beings to relate, forgive, and to reconcile. Sex, as a symbol of God’s grace, is in the center of all these human beings’ participation to the creative saving activity of God.