The recent publication of Pope Francis’ document on the family and married life, Amoris Laetitia (“Joy of Love”) has caused consternation, confusion, and deep anguish among Catholics. They wonder: Are the Church’s timeless teachings on marriage being overturned? Is the Pope saying that formerly illicit marriages are now okay? The ambiguities and apparent contradictions in the document have raised more questions than they have answered, which is certainly an odd and puzzling result for such an eagerly awaited papal document.

While there are certainly valuable directives for the family and married couples in Amoris Laetitia, a careful reading of the Exhortation suggests that a number of statements in Amoris Laetitia contradict St. John Paul II’s moral decisions on marriage which are based on solid Church doctrine.

For Catholics in all walks of life, this confusion is painful, and may even challenge their faith. It is especially relevant for Catholics who find themselves in the agonizing situation of having been married “outside the Church,” and persons who are struggling, in courage and loneliness, to remain faithful to their Catholic marriage vows (that is, not to remarry) even though their spouses have left them.

How did Amoris Laetitia create such confusion about marriage? I believe the answer to that question is in the footnotes. Whoever added footnotes, and prepared the final document for publication, inserted two completely separate papal documents for reference. In doing so, they altered and/or conflated their meanings to make it appear that the Church was opening the door to permitting invalidly married couples who are “living as brothers and sisters” to express certain acts of marital intimacy (as distinct from brotherly and sisterly intimacy). This would appear to be the first step to allowing all invalidly married couples to receive the sacraments.

Let’s be clear: The Church’s message is not to “bar the door” to persons who are living in the pain and loneliness of an invalid marriage. What a terrible thing that must be, to be aware of the pull of their conscience to “make things right,” but to know that it cannot be done at this time. One of the most terrible side effects of Amoris Laetitia is that its ambiguities make it impossible to know for certain what the right thing is!

Who created these ambiguities and confusions in this 200-plus page document? Surely not the Pope. This torturously long document has had many fingerprints on it. It is reasonable to assume that the confusion was added by the final preparers, whether they were prominent cardinals, or activist bishops, or theologians, or editors. It is not clear which individuals were among the contributors.

In any case, while we may not know who inserted this deceptive conclusion, we know where it is located. It was created by conflating these two documents: John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (“On the Family in the Modern World”), written in 1981, and a 1965 document of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, (“On the Church in the Modern World”).

In his 1981 document, John Paul II is clear and unambiguous when he writes that couples living in invalid marriages, who want to receive the sacraments, must live in “complete continence” (i.e., abstain from all sexual relations). Here’s what he wrote in no. 84 of Familiaris Consortio on the subject of invalidly married couples who want to receive the sacraments: “when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children’s upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they ‘take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples. ‘” This means that they must live together as a brother and a sister.

Curiously, however, when John Paul II’s statement is quoted in Amoris Laetitia, the last part— and the key part!—of his statement is dropped: that the couple must live together in “perfect continence” if they want to receive the sacraments.

Note that John Paul II’s teaching, when quoted in full, speaks directly to those invalidly married couples who are willing to “live as brother and sister” in order to receive sacraments. These couples need the encouragement and support of the Church in their difficult journey, and John Paul II gave it to them by clearly and unambiguously stating the true teachings of the Church regarding marriage.

However, by dropping John Paul II’s key and final phrase, “in perfect continence,” the preparers of Amoris Laetitia left these couples in a state of horrible confusion and abandonment by the Church. They could well ask, “So is the Church saying now it’s okay to have a loving marital relationship (i.e., intimate and sexual), even though we’re not married in the Church?”

That’s why the omission of John Paul II’s complete statement is so serious and deceptive. But it gets worse.

The preparers of Amoris Laetitia muddy the waters even further by introducing no. 51 of the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes. They want readers to believe that the Second Vatican Council said that “perfect continence” is harmful to invalid marriages. But this is absolutely untrue! Put in its proper context, no. 51 is talking about the problems facing validly married Catholics when they abstain from sexual relations for the sake of spacing children. Paragraph no. 51 is discussing the fact that “perfect continence” may be harmful to a marriage because it eliminates “certain expressions of intimacy” of married life: “But where the intimacy of married life is broken, it often happens that faithfulness is imperiled, and the good of the children suffers.”

Again, the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes, is talking about valid Catholic marriages. To link this with what John Paul II said about invalid marriages, is outrageous. If it were done deliberately, it is a deeply disturbing example of the grave dissension that is presently at work deep within the Church. If it were inadvertent, it is of course equally serious.

Thus, Amoris Laetitia deceives people, and leads them to believe that the current Pope Francis approves of invalidly married couples continuing to share “certain expressions of intimacy” of married life while receiving the sacraments so as not to endanger faithfulness, and the good of children. This is, in effect, permitting all invalidly married Catholics to receive the sacraments.

In order to fully appreciate this erroneous juxtaposition of documents, one must examine par. 298 and footnote 329 of Amoris Laetitia in their context:

298. The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment. One thing is a second union consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self-giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity, and of the great difficulty of going back without feeling in conscience that one would fall into new sins. The Church acknowledges situations “where, for serious reasons, such as the children’s upbringing, a man and woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate.”(footnote 329) (My emphasis.) 329. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, (22 November 1981), 84: AAS 74 (1982), 186. In such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of living “as brothers and sisters” which the Church offers them, point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking, “it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children suffers” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 51).

So, this editorial “sleight of hand” all began when the preparers of Amoris Laetitia diminished John Paul II’s teaching which required “perfect continence” for all invalidly married couples wanting to receive the sacraments. You could even surmise that they tried to “bury” John Paul II’s teaching by shifting it from the text proper (in par. 298) to a mere footnote 329 in Amoris Laetitia.

It is critical to note that in footnote 329, the preface of this disapproval of “living as brother and sister” starts out by saying: “In such situations…” The use of this phrase says something important: the likely interpretation is that the writer(s) are aware of the differences between John Paul II’s teaching, and Gaudium et Spes—but they have deliberately chosen to link them together.

The misleading phrase “in such situations” seems so deliberate, that it is easy to conclude that a great “sleight of hand” deception went into preparing this document. Whether it was deliberate or not, the result is that many Catholics are confused about whether Amoris Laetitia can be trusted.

We must be honest with the divorced and invalidly remarried couples who are trying to live in “perfect continence” so they can receive the sacraments. They deserve to know the truth about sharing romance or “certain actions of intimacy” connected to married life. Simply put: this is adultery.

While in the short term, this lack of honesty may appear to be “merciful” to adulterers, in the long-run it will only create more chaos—not only in the family—but in the entire Church. For the ultimate goal of Amoris Laetitia appears to be doing away with Canon 915, and the refusal of communion to “those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.” The preparers want “open communion” to all, regardless of their spiritual condition. This appears to be the ultimate goal, if the ambiguities of this document are allowed to stand.

This cannot be so. Someone who is divorced and invalidly remarried in a “second union” must be told the truth. These are not valid sacramental marriages. However, now, perhaps encouraged by the false reasoning in Amoris Laetitia, many people will feel justified to stay in their second union, and still express marital intimacy, while receiving the sacraments, or believe they can begin such a relationship without benefit of the Catholic sacrament of marriage.

Some will undoubtedly respond: “But what about God’s Mercy?” The answer is this: true Mercy and true Justice are never in conflict, which means that all authentic happy relationships are based on the Truth. It is deceptive and dishonest to try to lead people to believe that they can begin or continue the intimacies of marriage, when they are divorced and not validly remarried.

The preparers of Amoris Laetitia seem to have forgotten a fundamental teaching of Christianity found in St. Paul’s Gal. 6: 14: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We must never forget that without the cross, you do not have true Christianity. The “Joy of Love” is not the “joy of the flesh” but rather “the joy of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What is so very troubling is that a document, professed to be a help for suffering, invalidly married couples, does just the opposite. Instead of helping them to find their way back to living according to the sixth commandment in a second union, Amoris Laetitia leads them not to a recovery of their chastity, but to a reaffirmation of their adultery. This is done stealthily, concealed in a footnote.

I do not believe that Pope Francis would write such a deceptive and immoral footnote. Pope Francis himself seemed to indicate, in paragraph 3 of Amoris Laetitia, that he did not intend to exercise his magisterial authority over any new faith and moral opinions that he expressed in Amoris Laetitia. It is beginning to look more and more like Amoris Laetitia is the work of persons with a politically inspired agenda. The hope and prayer of so many faithful Catholics around the world is that Pope Francis will take another look at this deceptive document. Please, Holy Father, pull it back, and have it rewritten, but this time put it in the hands of persons who will prepare it with honesty and accuracy.