The latest issue of the Spanish magazine "Palabra" talks about divorce. In the section "Letters", there is an exchange of views between the editorial team and the parish priest of Santa Maria de Cana (Pozuelo-Madrid), Fr. Jesus Higueras Esteban, that puts the spotlight on support groups for separated persons. The answer evokes many initiatives similar to the one mentioned by the priest, which exist elsewhere in response to the Church's desire to accompany the separated and divorced faithful. "Some—it is said—were presented at the International Congress of family movements, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family in January in Rome, under the title 'The vocation and the mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world,' that brought together over 80 movements and 300 experts." In Italy, the association 'Separated faithful,' founded in 2001 by the Milanese businessman Ernesto Emanuele and supported by the Italian Bishops' Conference, is active. The promoters emphasize the need for specific pastoral attention especially for separated people who have chosen to remain faithful." The goal, we read further on, is to help them live a "deeper life" and to be "a sign of hope in the Church and in society, evidence that fidelity to the sacrament of marriage is possible even when human love is not reciprocated."
Reference is then made to the Diocese of Palermo, where the program "Santa Maria di Cana" offers assistance to separated or divorced faithful who have not remarried; this path culminates in the renewal of the promises of marriage, for those who wish to do so. Moreover, "the Diocese of Treviso, Padua, Mila and Bergamo—the article finally says—offer advice, guidance and spiritual encounters for separated and divorced persons."