[Editor’s note: The following is a response from Fr. Brian Harrison to Pedro Gabriel’s August 18 “Open Letter to Fr. Harrison on Amoris Laetitia.” Pedro’s open letter was a response to Fr. Harrison’s “Open Letter to Leo XIV on Amoris Laetitia,” published on August 12 (dated 22 July 2025) on the One Peter Five website.]

I have read Pedro Gabriel’s “Open Letter to Fr. Brian Harrison” on your website, responding to my own “Open Letter” of July 22, 2025 to the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV, in which I expressed concerns about Chapter VIII of Pope Francis’ 2016 Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. I appreciate very much the courteous and charitable tone of Dr. Gabriel’s comments. It is so much better when even grave disagreements about theological and other ecclesial issues are expressed in mutually respectful terms rather than (as so often happens) with the kind of insults, sarcasm and fervid polemics that usually generate more heat than light.

Nevertheless, I would like to let Dr. Gabriel and other readers of ‘Where Peter Is’ know that I do not think the time is yet ripe for me to take up his invitation to respond to his comments on my own letter. The reason is that I think it appropriate to wait for a while in order to see what, if anything, the recently elected Pope Leo may have to say about the specific point at issue, namely, the admission to Holy Communion in certain cases of Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried and have no intention of living in continence.

Even though I have mailed the Holy Father a hard copy of my letter, I am doubtful that he will ever get to see either that or the online version. For I have no ‘connections’ in the Vatican, and of course there are many gatekeepers who have to vet the constant flood of messages from round the world sent by those who write to the Supreme Pontiff. So inevitably, only a very small percentage of these ever reach the papal desk. Nevertheless, the issue raised in my letter is one that, rightly or wrongly, continues to perplex and worry many Catholics round the world. So it is quite possible that before too long, Pope Leo might say something about the matter in question even if he never sees my letter. There are three logical possibilities: (a) he might expressly confirm his predecessor’s controversial decision; (b) he might expressly amend, qualify, or even rescind it; or (c) he may say nothing at all about it.

In the event of either (a) or (b), whatever the Holy Father might say would obviously be of great relevance in any further discussion of the issue and so I would need to take it into account in what I write by way of a response to Pedro Gabriel’s critique. As regards (c) it seems to me that if, say, a full year goes by after Leo’s election without him making any further comment about Communion for the divorced-and-remarried, then it would be reasonable to draw the conclusion that “silence signifies consent”. That would be equivalent to possibility (a). So I would like your readers to know that by May 2026 at the latest I plan to offer some observations on Dr. Gabriel’s ‘Open Letter’ to myself.

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Brian W. Harrison, OS, MA, STD

Image: Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash