Fight Over Divorce Bill Splits Argentina

An emotional debate over divorce is straining church-state relations in Argentina and clouding preparations for a papal visit next year.

Roman Catholic bishops and members of the National Congress are exchanging verbal abuse. A priest has been suspended for life. The Argentine Senate is running for cover.

Msgr. Roberto Tucci, a papal emissary, arrived Tuesday to begin planning for Pope John Paul II’s visit, scheduled for next April, but his presence was obscured by the fury of the divorce controversy. Argentina is one of the last half-dozen countries in the world where divorce is forbidden.

Despite church opposition, the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a moderate divorce bill in August. The 176-to-36 vote reflected widespread support for divorce legislation in this officially Catholic country. A subsequent opinion poll indicated that 70% of the people favor a divorce law.

Since the vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the Permanent Commission of Argentine Bishops has recommended that Communion be denied to the deputies who voted for the bill.

With a few exceptions, the majority of Argentina’s 44 diocesan bishops support the commission’s “suggestion” that “Catholic deputies who have voted for the divorce law be informed that they have failed their duty as Catholics, provoking great scandal, and that in order to receive Communion they must first make public retraction of the sin they have committed.”

The commission decision came in September, but the first public word of it appeared this week in the Argentine press.

By that time, Father Jose Amado Aguirre, a rural priest, had been suspended ad divinis-- for life--from clerical functions by his local bishop for supporting divorce in the case of civil marriages.

Priest to Appeal Suspension

Aguirre argues that the church considers civil marriage invalid for purposes of baptizing children and that there is no reason an invalid marriage should be considered by the church to be indissoluble. He says he will appeal to an ecclesiastical tribunal.

The affected deputies have reacted vigorously. Dardo Dominguez, one of three deputies representing three different political parties who have been denied Communion in the province of Jujuy, called the action “unjust and arbitrary, a clerical attempt to control politics.”

“Unacceptable,” said Maria Cristina Guzman, another Jujuy deputy. “I voted for the law as a legislator, not as a Catholic, a Jew or a Protestant. I voted as a legislator in a country that allows religious freedom. One can ask forgiveness for a sin, if a sin is committed, but my conscience is clear.”

A Buenos Aires lawyer, Pedro Riso, has filed suit in federal court charging the commission of bishops with violating the constitution by “meddling in the internal affairs of Argentina for the benefit of a foreign power such as the Vatican State.”

Church Victories

Argentine legislators have been considering divorce proposals since 1888, and on every occasion have surrendered to clerical opposition. The present measure would allow divorce after two years of separation or for reasons involving adultery, cruelty, alcoholism, drug addiction and mental disorder.

The Senate, which has been warned by the bishops that its approval “could irreparably damage the Argentine people,” has been sitting on the divorce bill since August. On Tuesday, the Senate agenda made no reference to the bill, which means that it will not be considered until after the papal visit.

“If divorce is not dead, at least it is under intensive care,” said Sen. Eduardo Menem, who supports the bill.

Neither the Radical Party of President Raul Alfonsin nor the Peronist Party, its principal opposition, has taken a position on the bill, but the government is not pressing for congressional action.