Let me see if I can get this straight.

• In the matter of reception of Holy Communion after adulterous remarriage the conscience of the individual is sovereign.
• But the provisions of AL allow for – indeed encourage – individual bishops, and especially conferences of bishops, to make decisions on the matter, which are said to be responses to local cultural diversity.
• A letter confirming the decision of one such conference, however, because it has been published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, is the definitive statement on the matter. To question it is to question the very guidance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.

The problem, surely, is how these three distinct and conflicting sources of authority come together. And if they do not, which is the most ‘merciful’.

In order to make his case – whatever it is – Cardinal Cupich must unravel this conundrum. And in doing so, explain how any of this relates to the consistent teaching of previous Popes.